(Image credit Maria Joner via Wikipedia)
I’ve been trying to avoid writing any political articles, but some just can’t be ignored.
Earlier this month, Russian president Vladimir Putin addressed a group of students, giving them an open lesson about science and how ‘the future belongs to artificial intelligence.’ More accurately, he stated, “Artificial intelligence is the future, not only for Russia but for all humankind. It comes with colossal opportunities, but also threats that are difficult to predict. Whoever becomes the leader in this sphere will become the ruler of the world.” A bold statement for sure but is he correct?
Perhaps it bears on what he said shortly after, that if Russians were to become leaders in that area, they would share their developments with the entire world, just as they did with nuclear technology. Funny, as he never shared that technology with the US, UK or the rest of Europe for that matter. Regardless, AI has become an increasing national security issue, and Russia lags far behind the US and China, who is expected to become the global leader in AI development by the year 2030.
President Trump, on the other hand, has cut the budgets for science and technology research- including funding for the National Science Foundation, the National Institute of Health and NASA, meaning AI development in the US will enter a decline, giving way for China to achieve their goal. As far as what AI development will mean in regards to ruling the world- according to a research study from Accenture, it’s expected to boost the economies of those who develop it will enable profit gains of 38% by 2035, that translates to $14-trillion in revenue across 16 industries in 12 economies.
Beyond providing some impressive pocket change, AI can be used to develop advanced cyber weapons, such as autonomous drones that actively seek and downs enemy drones or fleets of quadcopters that share a mind hive for unprecedented surveillance. The US and China are already developing these platforms and are seemingly ahead of anything Russia is capable of in this area. On the other hand, they are actively developing AI-based missiles that can re-direct themselves in flight to hit with increased precision, and famed small arms manufacturer Kalashnikov is developing AI-based robots equipped with precision firearms. This pits the US, China, and Russia in a new AI-based arms race, one that could potentially become a nightmare if Elon Musk and Stephen Hawking are correct.
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