AI is the surest way to global catastrophe humanity has so far invented!
From Anderson, J., & Rainie, L. (2026). Building a
human resilience infrastructure for the AI age. Imagining the Digital Future
Center, Elon University. Pages 67-68
‘AI is
the surest way to a global catastrophe humanity has so far invented. ... Can we
create a new movement for moral and ethical considerations before the AI
hurricane destroys half of humanity?’
Srinivasan
Ramani, an Internet Hall of Fame member, previously research director at HP
Labs India and professor at the International Institute of Information
Technology in Bangalore, wrote: “I confess to being an AI aficionado – I have
been one since 1964. My education and research experience make me a critical
observer, not a blind fan. I have been a daily user of the Microsoft Copilot
for more than a year. It applies semantic dimensions to understand what a user
is talking about and has the fluency to make occasional flattering remarks,
showing off a form of personality! Its access to resources encompassing a vast
swath of human knowledge – including history, science, arts, medicine and
technology – makes it a powerful collaborator at work. Its problem-solving
abilities include the capability to implement all published algorithms,
heuristics and approximate methods while also staying aware of even today’s
news. Copilot can now do the bulk of the routine work that researchers and
writers do. It surely has increased my productivity and helped me troubleshoot
problems in my daily life.
However, I
believe that AI is the surest way to global catastrophe that humanity has
invented to this point. We are not a mature society globally, and yet we have
acquired extremely dangerous weapons. When people are running away from a city
under bombing, rarely do they think of their neighbours. So, I doubt that
humanity can come together to agree on effective international cooperation
against malevolent AI.”
‘I have hopes that a new movement could create a new morality to help us
confront the challenges. ... The rarity or uniqueness of anything like the
human civilization in all the observable universe could inspire many people to
join the proposed movement. Humanity would be most un-intelligent if it creates
such a unique civilization and then fails to save it from destruction.‘
“We have no
warning system for specific dangers and we have no treaties like the ones that
confronted mutually assured destruction by nuclear weapons in the late 20th
Century. Safeguards and treaties against runaway AI may come in 10 years, but
that may be too late.
Innovative
technologies for use in intercontinental navigation in the 15th century onward
made popular scientific theories such as the Copernican Heliocentric theory and
threatened formal religion. We should not underestimate a similar threat to
religious beliefs being the result of developments in AI.
The biggest
threat is to our economic and social structures.
The concept
of jobs as the mechanism for providing an income and survival is under threat.
The mechanism of taxing individuals’ income to provide the bulk of government
expenditure is also under threat. Do all human beings have an inherent right to
incomes irrespective of their employment? Does this right cover all regions of
the Earth, or is it confined to residents of economically advanced nations?
This question threatens our political foundations.
Traditional
pedagogies force students to learn a lot of information and knowledge just in
case they may need it during their lives. AI has trashed these pedagogies, by
giving information and knowledge on demand. The pace of change in most fields
of human endeavour make it meaningless to restrict learning to the first
quarter of one’s life. New pedagogies need to be evolved to teach all people to
live in a turbocharged world in which they must learn to change and adapt all
their lives.”
“I think
like an engineer, clinging to hope at the worst of times. I will be thinking of
solutions to problems till my last breath. So, let me describe my hopes.
The power of
compounded earnings makes me believe that poverty may not be as big a threat as
it has been in the past. The problem is a moral one. Do most people recognize
that the speed of social and economic change is already extremely high? Can we
create a new movement for moral and ethical considerations before the AI
hurricane destroys half of humanity?
I have hopes
that a new movement could create a new morality to help us confront the
challenges. I take hope from the green parties which have had a degree of
success in earning public support to face the threat to sustainability of human
life on Earth. The rarity or uniqueness of anything like the human civilization
in all the observable universe could inspire many people to join the proposed
movement.
Humanity
would be most un-intelligent if it creates such a unique civilization and then
fails to save it from destruction.”
Srinivasan
Ramani
Retd. Professor, IIIT Bangalore
