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After more than 200 years in obscurity the Luddites are back, this time in the guise of former President Barak Obama, Democratic lawmakers and their fellow travelers in Silicon Valley. This time the targets are not water powered mechanical looms and knitting machines but the new wonder of the Digital Age -- artificial intelligence.
To many the launch of the AI Apocalypse seems similar to the beginnings of what many are now calling the climate hoax when we were told that human civilization's reliance on fossil fuels was fundamentally altering the Earth’s atmosphere and that if we didn't clean up our act humanity was not long for this planet.
The new campaign was launched by a 27-year-old low level AI researcher named Jacob Coxon when he announced his resignation from Anthropic in a letter to the Wall Street Journal. He stated that Anthropic and OpenAI are locked in a race toward “self-improving superintelligence.” He stated senior executives and researchers frequently discussed their fears regarding the direction AI was taking. Following Coxon's letter, Evan Hubinger, an AI alignment lead still at Anthropic, publicly validated that story. Hubinger noted that many within the field estimate a greater than 10% chance that AI could cause human extinction within the next ten years. Notice that no one had yet told us how or why the AI Apocalypse would occur.
The plot thickened when Anthropic's Democratic leaning founder and CEO Dario Amodei validated Coxon's statements and further during an interview on CBS said that he wants "the right combination of governments to provide some kind of joint governance to control the technology." That sounds like he wants some form of world government. Amodei just might be more dangerous than artificial intelligence itself.
Meanwhile, like the hack politician he is, Sen. Bernie Sanders the unofficial chairman of the unofficial Senate Luddite Sub-Committee announced the "Ban Artificial Superintelligence Act" and warned, "We don't have months. We don't have years. We got to move now."
Has anyone besides me noticed that every day the senator resembles the late great comedian Irwin Corry who played a crazy professor on television and in the movies.
Further investigation of Anthropic disclosed the fact that its supposedly bipartisan "National Security and Public Sector Advisory Council" is made up of former Obama and Biden Administration intelligence officials with close ties to anti-Trump lawfare hoaxers like former CIA Director John Brennan. Other members are Chuck Schumer's national security adviser Mike Kuiken and Obama's Deputy White House Counsel Christopher Fonzone.
Since Democrats can never resist a crisis for political gain they immediately latched on to the AI apocalypse narrative. Former President Obama, remembering his glory days as a community organizer, offered to act as a sounding board for AI executives. Shortly after that Obama and Minority Leader Hakeem Jefferies told donors and Democratic House members at a closed door fundraiser to make AI regulation the center of their reelection agenda. Obama told the attendees that AI was even more important "than nukes."
Reacting to the fear mongering Attorney General Todd Blanche accused Democrats of hyping fears over AI as a means of influencing the upcoming midterm elections. Given the alacrity with which Democratic leaders quickly latched on to "AI phobia" coming from the generally Democratic leaning Artificial Intelligence Industry it's hard to discount the idea that a bit of collusion has taken place.
David Sacks, the co-chair of the President Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, questioned the motives of AI executives. He suggested the companies calling for industry wide pauses on AI development until some form of government or international control is developed are attempting to shield themselves from product liability claims regarding cyberattacks. Others suspect that major artificial intelligence companies are advocating some form of regulation in an effort to thwart open source developers and startups in the field who might be crushed by the regulatory compliance burden. Other observers of the industry suggest that raising AI doomsday theories are meant to distract regulators from other issues like antitrust investigations, data privacy violations, and energy consumption.
However, the leaders of major AI companies are telling us that advanced AI models pose real security implications that include potential misuse in cyberattacks or bioweapons creation. Supporting regulation, they argue for the necessity of international treaties and standardized national guardrails to prevent what they describe as a "reckless arms race" between nations and corporations that will leave society unprotected against an unpredictable technology
While some in the AI Industry feel that China can be convinced to go along with a halt in AI development, President Trump feels that is unlikely and opposes a suspension of AI development emphasizing that China is determined to catch and surpass the United States in the race to develop AI technology. It is said that if China wins that race our children will need to speak Mandarin.
Where do we stand now? I think that raising fears over AI is nothing more than an attempt by Democrats with complicit persons in the Artificial Intelligence industry to influence the midterms. The party has been successfully infiltrated by Marxists and is saddled with Marxist candidates in many races and leaders perhaps see the midterms as a chance to retake control of the party.
Thomas Kirkpatrick Sr. is a Silver Creek resident. Send comments to editorial@observertoday.com