The AI paradox is that we humans are the greatest AI threat, not AI itself. For half a century, humanity has been exhausting our planet's health in an accelerating way. Our self-destructive nature is aligned with and amplified by our technological tools. AI, as the ultimate tool, will be humanity's ultimate test.
The coming years will be the most dangerous in human history. Powerful enterprises are investing astronomical sums to win global dominance in artificial intelligence. Market forces unfortunately reward AI companies that prioritize speed over security. A wall of AI transformation is rushing closer.
In the short term, AI will help us become more productive. After that, jobs will start disappearing at an exponential rate, especially when AI takes robotic form and starts reprogramming itself recursively. We humans will eventually lose our relevance and economic value.
What happens when people who have lost their jobs to AI realize that their only way to make money is by tasking their AI to commit automated fraud and hacker attacks? What happens when one angry person asks their AI to design a pandemic or a self learning computer virus for banks and infrastructure?
There is still time to discuss a safe road forward. What should an AI-governed world look like? What should the balance between safety and freedom be? Can the collective existential AI threat be a uniting force? This book is a sobering, solution-oriented guide to understand the coming wave and to save humanity from ourselves.