![]() ![]() So if I say, “‘The Terminator’ is about catastrophic AI risk,” and you think what I’m really saying is that catastrophic AI risk is about the possibility that a very strong android wearing a leather jacket will start shooting people with a shotgun, then you’ll understandably think I’m an idiot. And, indeed, that is the bulk of the films’ screen time. I love the Terminator movies and have seen both of them dozens of times, so when I say that AI alignment issues play a major role in “The Terminator,” I know what I mean.īut I think to most people who saw them once 20 years ago or have just seen some clips on YouTube, these movies are about Arnold Schwarzenegger playing a time-traveling android who gets into fights. ![]() And as a writer called skluug says in this post that uses my interview with Kelsey as a jumping-off point, “The Terminator” is actually a good way to frame a discussion about AI risk. And I told him I think it’s a serious issue and I wish it were legible to more people, but I always struggle to generate tractable takes about it.īut you know what people like to watch and talk about? Awesome movies. He felt that I, as a takes guy, should help solve this problem. I recently met a student interested in a career in AI safety, and he was complaining that this isn’t even on the radar of most of his peers - smart people at a top school. They also seem to really dislike the idea that they are basically talking about “The Terminator” (when I mentioned this analogy to Kelsey Piper last year, her reaction was very negative). “The Terminator” and T2 are essentially time travel action movies, but they are also about what has come to be called the AI alignment problem: how do you design a superintelligent machine without accidentally unleashing a catastrophe? I’ve since learned that a lot of the smartest people I’ve met think the AI alignment problem is the most serious issue facing humanity. But the kid and his mom decide that instead of just surviving, they should act to prevent Skynet’s creation. In T2, a more advanced android is sent back to kill the resistance leader as a kid, and a version of the original killer android (reprogrammed to be good) is sent back to protect him. Skynet develops time-travel technology and sends an android back in time to kill the resistance leader’s mother before he’s born, but the resistance manages to send one fighter back to protect her. A small number of human fighters survive and mount a resistance. The premise of the original (spoilers ahead) is that a military AI system called Skynet deliberately unleashes a nuclear war to try to exterminate humanity in the near future. “The Terminator” and “Terminator 2: Judgment Day” are two of my favorite movies, despite their inconsistent treatment of time travel paradoxes.
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