Mr and Mrs Kent bring their son, Clark, up with strong moral values and teach him that his duty is to help and protect humanity.
"But what about the opposite scenario?" asks Mo Gawdat, a former top executive at Google's artificial intelligence division. "Suppose the Kents had done things differently, and Superman had learned greed and self-interest. What would have stopped him from destroying the world? "This is where we are with AI."
In a sense, all of us - the scientists who have created a new breed of hyper-intelligent machines, the governments and corporations that will deploy them, and everyone who will come to rely on them - are the new Kents. If we can safely steer artificial intelligence towards good purposes, it has the potential to vastly improve our lives. If not, it is terrifyingly capable of destroying us.
In May, a group of AI-pioneering researchers and executives issued a blunt warning that reducing the dangers of the new technology should become a global priority. A few weeks earlier Professor Geoffrey Hinton, a British scientist known as the 'Godfather of AI', said that he was retiring from the field and now regretted some of his achievements.
"It's hard to see," he said, "how you can prevent the bad actors from using it for bad things."
Especially when the bad actors may turn out be the machines themselves. By doing what you ask, AI won't necessarily do what you mean. Let's imagine the governments of the world giving an advanced AI network the task of solving global warming. The machine puts its mind to work and instantly sees that the primary cause of the crisis is human activity. The solution is obvious: No humans, no problem. It covertly commissions a bio-research program, which produces what becomes a super-deadly virus to kill us all.
この記事は The Australian Women's Weekly の September 2023 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です ? サインイン
この記事は The Australian Women's Weekly の September 2023 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です? サインイン
Hitting a nerve
Regulating the vagus nerve with its links to depression, anxiety, arthritis and diabetes - could aid physical and mental wellbeing.
Take me to the river
With a slew of new schedules and excursions to explore, the latest river cruises promise to give you experiences and sights you won’t see on the ocean.
The last act
When family patriarch Tom Edwards passes away, his children must come together to build his coffin in four days, otherwise they will lose their inheritance. Can they put their sibling rivalry aside?
MEET RUSSIA'S BRAVEST WOMEN
When Alexei Navalny died in a brutal Arctic prison, Vladimir Putin thought he had triumphed over his most formidable opponent. Until three courageous women - Alexei's mother, wife and daughter - took up his fight for freedom.
The wines and lines mums
Once only associated with glamorous A-listers, cocaine is now prevalent with the soccer-mum set - as likely to be imbibed at a school fundraiser as a nightclub. The Weekly looks inside this illegal, addictive, rising trend.
Jenny Liddle-Bob.Lucy McDonald.Sasha Green - Why don't you know their names?
Indigenous women are being murdered at frightening rates, their deaths often left uninvestigated and widely unreported. Here The Weekly meets families who are battling grief and desperate for solutions.
Growing happiness
Through drought flood and heartbreak, Jenny Jennr's sunflowers bloom with hope, sunshine and joy
"Thank God we make each other laugh"
A shared sense of humour has seen Aussie comedy couple Harriet Dyer and Patrick Brammall conquer the world. But what does life look like when the cameras go down:
Winter baking with apples and pears
Celebrate the season of Australian apples and pears with these sweet bakes that will keep the midwinter blues away.
Budget dinner winners
Looking for some thrifty inspiration for weeknight dinners? Try our tasty line-up of low-cost recipes that are bound to please everyone at the table.