Vitalik Buterin: AI may surpass humans as the 'apex species'

cointelegraph.com:

Super-advanced artificial intelligence, left unchecked, has a “serious chance” of surpassing humans to become the next “apex species” of the planet, according Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin.

But that will boil down to how humans potentially intervene with AI developments, he said.

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In a Nov. 27 blog post, Buterin, seen by some as a thought leader in the cryptocurrency space, argued AI is “fundamentally different” from other recent inventions — such as social media, contraception, airplanes, guns, the wheel, and the printing press — as AI can create a new type of “mind” that can turn against human interests, adding:

Buterin argued that unlike climate change, a man-made pandemic, or nuclear war, superintelligent AI could potentially end humanity and leave no survivors, particularly if it ends up viewing humans as a threat to its own survival. 

“Even Mars may not be safe,” Buterin added.

Buterin cited an August 2022 survey from over 4,270 machine learning researchers who estimated a 5-10% chance that AI kills humanity.

However, while Buterin stressed that claims of this nature are “extreme,” there are also ways for humans to prevail.

Buterin suggested integrating brain-computer interfaces (BCI) to offer humans more control over powerful forms of AI-based computation and cognition.

A BCI is a communication pathway between the brain's electrical activity and an external device, such as a computer or robotic limb.

This would reduce the two-way communication loop between man and machine from seconds to milliseconds, and