Don’t Fear the

Tech News:

Terminator
Artificial intelligence never needed to evolve, so it didn’t
develop the survival instinct that leads to the impulse to
dominate others
· By Anthony Zador,
Zador Yann LeCun on September 26, 2019
···

Credit: Getty Images

As we teeter on the brink of another technological revolution

revolution—the
the artificial
intelligence revolution—worry
revolution worry is growing that it might be our last. The fear is
that the intelligence of machines will soon match or even exceed that of
humans. They could turn against
against us and replace us as the dominant “life” form
on earth. Our creations would become our overlords
overlords—or or perhaps wipe us out
altogether. Such dramatic scenarios, exciting though they might be to imagine,
reflect a misunderstanding of AI. And they distract from the more mundane
but far more likely risks posed by the technology in the near future, as well as
from its most exciting benefits.
Takeover by AI has long been the stuff of science fiction. In 2001: A Space
Odyssey, HAL, the sentient computer controlling
control ling the operation of an
interplanetary spaceship, turns on the crew in an act of self-preservation.
In The Terminator, an Internet-like computer defense system called Skynet
achieves self-awareness and initiates a nuclear war, obliterating much of
humanity. This trope has, by now, been almost elevated to a natural law of
science fiction: a sufficiently intelligent computer system will do whatever it
must to survive, which will likely include achieving dominion over the human
race.

To a neuroscientist, this line of reasoning is puzzling. There are plenty of risks

of AI to worry about, including economic disruption, failures in life-critical
applications and weaponization by bad actors. But the one that seems to worry
people most is power-hungry robots deciding, of their own volition, to take
over the world. Why would a sentient AI want to take over the world? It
wouldn’t.
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We dramatically overestimate the threat of an accidental AI takeover, because

we tend to conflate intelligence with the drive to achieve dominance. This
confusion is understandable: During our evolutionary history as (often
violent) primates, intelligence was key to social dominance and enabled our
reproductive success. And indeed, intelligence is a powerful adaptation, like
horns, sharp claws or the ability to fly, which can facilitate survival in many
ways. But intelligence per se does not generate the drive for domination, any
more than horns do.

It is just the ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills in pursuit of a
goal. Intelligence does not provide the goal itself, merely the means to achieve
it. “Natural intelligence”—the intelligence of biological organisms—is an
evolutionary adaptation, and like other such adaptations, it emerged under
natural selection because it improved survival and propagation of the species.
These goals are hardwired as instincts deep in the nervous systems of even the
simplest organisms.

But because AI systems did not pass through the crucible of natural selection,
they did not need to evolve a survival instinct. In AI, intelligence and survival
are decoupled, and so intelligence can serve whatever goals we set for it.
Recognizing this fact, science-fiction writer Isaac Asimov proposed his famous
First Law of Robotics: “A robot may not injure a human being or, through
inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.” It is unlikely that we will
unwittingly end up under the thumbs of our digital masters.
It is tempting to speculate that if we had evolved from some other creature,
such as orangutans or elephants (among the most intelligent animals on the
planet), we might be less inclined to see an inevitable link between intelligence
and dominance. We might focus instead on intelligence as an enabler of
enhanced cooperation. Female Asian elephants live in tightly cooperative
groups but do not exhibit clear dominance hierarchies or matriarchal
leadership.

Interestingly, male elephants live in looser groups and frequently fight for
dominance, because only the strongest are able to mate with receptive
females. Orangutans live largely solitary lives. Females do not seek
dominance, although competing males occasionally fight for access to females.
These and other observations suggest that dominance-seeking behavior is
more correlated with testosterone than with intelligence. Even among
humans, those who seek positions of power are rarely the smartest among us.
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Worry about the Terminator scenario distracts us from the very real risks of
AI. It can (and almost certainly will) be weaponized and may lead to new
modes of warfare. AI may also disrupt much of our current economy. One
study predicts that 47 percent of U.S. jobs may, in the long run, be displaced
by AI. While AI will improve productivity, create new jobs and grow the
economy, workers will need to retrain for the new jobs, and some will
inevitably be left behind. As with many technological revolutions, AI may lead
to further increases in wealth and income inequalities unless new fiscal
policies are put in place. And of course, there are unanticipated risks
associated with any new technology—the “unknown unknowns.” All of these
are more concerning than an inadvertent robot takeover.

There is little doubt that AI will contribute to profound transformations over

the next decades. At its best, the technology has the potential to release us
from mundane work and create a utopia in which all time is leisure time. At its
worst, World War III might be fought by armies of superintelligent robots. But
they won’t be led by HAL, Skynet or their newer AI relatives. Even in the worst
case, the robots will remain under our command, and we will have only
ourselves to blame.
The views expressed are those of the author(s) and are not necessarily those of Scientific American.