The problem with P(doom)
Predicting AI catastrophe has gone mainstream with predictable consequences.
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Worries about the existential threat posed by rogue AI – as depicted in the movie I, Robot (2004) – are making headlines, but predicting when the doomsday scenario will happen is hard to pin down, says the writer.
PHOTO: TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX
Tim Harford
Will the robots kill us all? Hard to say. As the Dude wisely opined in The Big Lebowski (1998), “a lotta ins, a lotta outs, a lotta what-have-yous. And, uh, a lotta strands to keep in my head, man”.
But if keeping all those strands in your head is vexing, why not just make up a number and call it P(doom)?