Artificial intelligence (AI) has stirred debate among experts over its potential to wipe out humanity, concerns from governments, tech personalities, and AI pioneers alike. To gain insight on the possibility of an apocalyptic disaster, Fox News recently asked OpenAI’s ChatGPT for its take. Surprisingly, ChatGPT provided grounded and factual predictions for the event.
The bot first projected climate change and the impact of failing to address the issue. Compounded with rising sea levels, food scarcity, and harsh weather conditions, the world could soon experience displacement, violence, and instability that have the capability to lead to our inevitable extinction. The consistent data from NASA on climate change reveals the progression of these events and proves their magnitude as never seen before.
The second warning ChatGPT offered pertained to nuclear weapons and the fallouts that may result from their increase in production. While the likelihood of nuclear war is low, tensions between countries and regional conflicts will continue to be a threat. Reports have highlighted the current stockpiling of such weapons by China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran, suggesting the possibility that deterrence could be soon lost.
The chatbot’s third prediction revolved around the development of artificial intelligence and robotics to some degree that threatened human existence. Automation of jobs holds the capability of causing disruption in the economy and social spheres, further leading to unrest and a downfall. These possibilities further accentuate the alarms sounded by those such as Elon Musk, who have warned the public of AI’s power to destroy civilization.
Finally, pandemics and health catastrophes have been a looming reality since the start of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. This, alongside other infectious diseases, can cause unprecedented devastation through disease, death, and economic turmoil, especially in a globalized world.
ChatGPT is optimistic about the human race’s role in repairing the situation and rendering these forecasts, which should be taken seriously, unneeded. Keeping this in mind, only through collaboration and focus on creating a more sustainable future will we survive.
OpenAI is a San Francisco-based research laboratory that works on advancing artificial intelligence capabilities. It is recognized for their flagship product GPT-3, a natural language processing software that focuses on predicting off of the text given. Since the organization’s launch in 2015, the team has continually made groundbreaking strides with machine learning.
OpenAI’s co-founder and chairman, Elon Musk, is a business magnate, investor and engineer, renowned for his contributions to sustainable energy, artificial intelligence, and space travel. His consistent advocacy against potential AI capabilities has raised alarms in multiple groups and increased conversations in the industry. Through Tesla, SpaceX, and SolarCity, he has started multiple campaigns to bring awareness to the importance of sustainability and has pushed the world towards a greener future.
