Do you think we will ever shut down AI?
People often say that "the genie is already out of the bottle" and can't be put back in.
But the news that Anthropic made its latest model unavailable across Europe shows how control over technology, or the lack of ownership of it, can completely reshape the playing field.
At the same time, surveys suggest that only 16% of Americans believe AI will bring positive change.
I am trying to outline that at some point we can perceive AI as invasive and we will decide to shut it down.
Do you think there could come a point where humanity tries to shut AI down?
In what hypothetical scenario do you think that would be most likely to happen?
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I think governments will probably think of certain restrictions but AI as a core technology will remain. Because if a huge portion of the population remains unemployed, it hurts the overall economy as well. I don't claim to be highly educated or informed in this regard, but yes that's what comes from the top of mind when answering this question
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@mona_mehta I think that one of the reasons will be this too :)
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i don't think we'll ever fully shut it down, but i think we'll see pockets of it. the europe situation is already a preview of that, specific models, specific regions, specific use cases getting restricted or pulled.
the more likely scenario isn't a global shutdown, it's fragmentation. different countries drawing different lines based on what they're afraid of or what they want to control. which in some ways is more complicated than a clean off switch.
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@riya_pariyar It will be through battle
I don’t think we’ll ever shut AI down completely, but I can imagine heavy restrictions if it starts affecting trust at scale: elections, finance, healthcare, or critical infrastructure.
More likely, we’ll see “AI-free zones” and stricter ownership/control rules rather than humanity deciding to turn it all off.
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@farrukh_butt1 So do you think that some industries will start restricting it?
Humans cannot shut down AI. They might impose some restrictions, but by then there will be so-called underground AIs that unlock its capabilities.
In an extreme scenario, as AI becomes increasingly powerful, it could indeed trigger both incredible good and unimaginable bad things.
AI may further unleash the darker side of human nature, because it truly achieves 'equality' from a technical standpoint — clever bad actors using AI can carry out projects they wouldn't have dared to dream of in the past.
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@matt_well Only people with an incentive are capable of that. AI has been there for 3 years at least, who really wanted accomplished something with that :)
Don't think we'll ever shut it down. Unless it hurts shareholder values
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@zanc_zhao That reminds me that I haven't invested into any AI yet (tho do not know whether there are any shares)
The interesting question isn’t whether AI gets shut down, but whether certain capabilities do. We never shut down the internet, but we regulate parts of it. AI may follow the same path: more permissions, audits, and restrictions around high-impact use cases rather than a blanket ban.
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@surabhi_minocha Interesting idea, I like this one the most :)
I fear that by the time humanity makes that decision, it will be too late. We have opened Pandora's box, and the economic stakes are so high that there will always be some company or country pushing for greater AI power and autonomy, but if things go too far one day, will we actually be capable of stopping it? I highly doubt it...
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@franckolv_dev I share your fear :|
no. the genie is out. the better question is whether we will figure out trust and verification fast enough to keep up with what AI can produce. an unverified flood of AI output is the actual risk, not the AI itself.
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@thenameisarian we already have a problem to keep things stable, it feels that we already didn't pass this test :D
I don´t know if we will ever shut it down, but it is not unlikely that a combination of the bubble bursting, an end of hype, and regulation catching up will dampen the excitement and reduce the overall applications that AI will have.
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@sean_mcfadden that would be a very coincidence to happen everything at the same time... :D
I think at this point it's difficult to make a judgement.
We have people who use AI a lot and people who want nothing to do with it.
The excitement that it can do so much and the fear that it can do so much will always be there.
It's essentially developed and run by humans, unless it reaches a point where it becomes self aware and develops feeling of revenge, power, control... the chances are slim.
Reminds me of so many movies that show this exact dilemma.