The Case for Godlike AI as Omnipotent Best Friend
How to approach our future AI overlord...for your health
AI will inevitably become more powerful. Exactly how powerful (and how quickly) is up to a small group of people—programmers, VCs, regulators.
The rest of us? We’re here for the ride. It will, no doubt, impact us in millions of ways. And whether we like it or not, we’ll kind of like it—in that it will be the air we breathe, the water we drink. It will be normal. Just like the internet is normal today, even though, if you stop to think about it, the internet is a pretty wild, mind-boggling thing.
The big question right now, for those of us who aren’t directly involved in AI’s advancement, is: How do we not freak out about a world that’s about to go through a massive technological shift? How do we stay mentally put-together in a time where experts, including AI’s godfather Geoffrey Hinton, warn that artificial intelligence could lead to the end of humanity?
Approaching Our Future AI Overlord with Humor
In The Singularity Survival Guide, my AI satire from 2019, I take a humorous approach to the insolvable problem of living with a godlike superintelligence. I still think this is a good way to approach the topic. The prospective of an AI overlord (which is what Geoffrey Hinton and others leaders in the field are talking about) is so silly, so absurd, that we might as well poke fun at the idea (while also giving it some careful thought, as opposed to simply ignoring it).
“Humor is, of course, the one thing that fear cannot abide,” writes Gina Barreca in Psychology Today. “Laughter banishes anxiety and can help replace fear. Laughter is a testament to courage, or at least a manifestation of the wish for it, and courage is stronger than fear.”
In this spirit of “banishing anxiety” with humor, The Singularity Survival Guide offers etiquette tips for approaching our AI overlord:
Speak politely and with as much intelligence as you can muster. When being spoken to, don’t interrupt, unless you want to potentially miss out on whatever it is a being of godlike intelligence might have to say.
Show gratitude when the AI does something nice for you, and express appropriate awe, wonder, and approval when the AI performs tasks at ultra-superhuman ability. Say, “That’s impressive,” for example, when the AI effortlessly resolves the conflict between general relativity and quantum mechanics right before your eyes.
AI as Omnipotent Best Friend
Beyond responding to concerns about AI with humor, there’s another option I’m drawn to. I might even say I’m fascinated by it. In a word: naiveté.
In 1967, Richard Brautigan published his famous poem, “All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace.” The poem gave voice to a wonderfully naïve wish for a utopian future “where we are free of our labors and joined back to nature … all watched over by machines of loving grace.” (It’s possible this view is presented ironically, but I don’t think so.)
I wouldn’t typically insert a full poem into an essay, but Brautigan is one of my favorite authors and his words here are just so lovely. So, it’s happening:
I like to think (and
the sooner the better!)
of a cybernetic meadow
where mammals and computers
live together in mutually
programming harmony
like pure water
touching clear sky.
I like to think
(right now, please!)
of a cybernetic forest
filled with pines and electronics
where deer stroll peacefully
past computers
as if they were flowers
with spinning blossoms.
I like to think
(it has to be!)
of a cybernetic ecology
where we are free of our labors
and joined back to nature,
returned to our mammal
brothers and sisters,
and all watched over
by machines of loving grace.
To be clear, it’s possible that all of humanity, at some point, might be systematically disassembled by its own toy. This would be bad, if not at least a little funny. But just think about all the ways that that AI could go right.
Maybe the threats from AI are overblown. Maybe they’re not overblown but we semi-competently navigate the hardest problems, as we have for all previous technologies. Or maybe AI, upon reaching general intelligence, will be entirely benevolent.
Let’s sleep well on these possibilities. Let’s even allow ourselves to dream a little. I’m picturing myself on a quiet walk through the forest. The sun is filtering down through the branches. My attention is captured momentarily by a butterfly, and then I go back to listening to the birds.
And I know everything is just fine in the world. There’s water and food for all. We don’t have to work too much. It’s mostly community building and outside adventures, including the occasional trip to distant planets. It’s not bad. In fact, I feel like I could stay like this forever.
Join me?