As the development of artificial intelligence accelerates, more voices inside and outside the industry are warning that the technology poses major risks to humanity. The new film, The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist, features interviews with leading AI executives, researchers, as well as critics, who all voice similar concerns. Since the film’s release earlier this year, a number of AI-driven hacks and other incidents have further alarmed people studying this topic.
“I’m really scared, and I’m struggling in my own life to sort of compartmentalize what I learned, what I know, what I understand, what I see happening around me,” says filmmaker Daniel Roher. He began work on The AI Doc as he was about to become a father and wondered what kind of world his children would inherit.
We also speak with Tristan Harris, co-founder of the Center for Humane Technology, a leading AI safety advocate who is featured in the film. He says part of the risk of AI development is that it has the logic of an “arms race,” with companies and countries racing to gain supremacy rather than building guardrails.
“The race changes as soon as the fear of all of us losing becomes bigger than the fear of me losing to you,” he says.
