Following hints towards a major AI revolution, some have accused Elon Musk of bringing Terminator to life with his new SpaceX project, highlighting one key detail that might put us all in danger in the future.
With the ever-growing demand for AI there has to be enough power to match it, and tech companies are rapidly realizing that it's simply not possible to achieve that supply within the current means.
There are data centers popping up all across the country but only so much power to go around – something that residents living nearby have also learned the hard way – prompting innovative solutions to be considered.
Among these is one fascinating proposition from Elon Musk, as the richest man in the world recently floated on a podcast that we're months away from sending AI operations into space, where it will then be able to harness the dramatically increased solar power potential of the Sun.
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That doesn't come without its own issues though – which a company like SpaceX will be familiar with thanks to the countless satellites it operates in orbit right now – as equipment like this has to deal with a torrent of charged particles unleashed by our solar system's central star.
As reported by Futurism, these particles break down the on-board electronics of satellites and various other objects in space, jeopardizing their operations and longevity, which is something you'll want to avoid as much as possible when maintaining potential AI operations and real-life Starlink network services.
That's why SpaceX has started a project many tech companies wouldn't even dream of doing, as they've created their very own particle accelerator to simulate the effects of space radiation, leaving some concerned for the future.
Shared by Michael Nicolls, vice president of Starlink Engineering at SpaceX, it was revealed that the company is hiring for several 'critical engineering roles' in the development of AI satellites, alongside "elite engineers at our new 230 MeV [Meta-electronvolt] cyclotron facility in Florida, where we are brining single-event radiation testing in house to accelerate development across all SpaceX vehicles."
This machine would effectively allow SpaceX to replicate the charged particles emanating from the Sun by accelerating particles around a circular object to create extremely high levels of energy, which will then be unleashed on the equipment to best prepare them for their time in space.
One concerned individual on X noted the similarity of this plan to a popular film though, and it's not one that you'd want to see recreated in reality.
"Just when I thought Terminator 3 was stupid for putting a particle accelerator in the same base as Skynet, here comes the company looking to fill the Sky with a Net of AI that has their own in house particle accelerator," the user writes.
The scene in question sees the Terminatrix (T-X) enter a particle accelerator without knowing that it holds an extremely strong magnetic force, causing the robot to become attached to the machine as it pulls away her metal 'skin'.
Implied here is that we've already had evidence that pairing AI with a particle accelerator is not a good idea – with the user even likening SpaceX to the evil Skynet corporation – but one reply points out a potential reprieve that might save us if that scenario occurred again.
"It's kind stupid this AI didn't know it was magnetic," they claim. "A thousand parameter LLM might know this."
One thing that's for sure is that the SpaceX operated AI would probably have the knowledge of this happening within Terminator 3 to look back on, so hopefully it won't make the same mistake again.