Adding to the already numerous tales of woe surrounding AI developments, one former Google head has issued a horrifying warning calling the next 15 years a 'dystopia' that there is 'no escaping' from.
While the tech world – especially those at the very top – currently harbor a lot of optimism surrounding the progress that artificial intelligence development is making, there an equal or greater level of skepticism and negativity spawning from it too.
People are already seeing their roles suffer from the consequences of AI, with the worst still clearly yet to come according to key experts, and terrifying scientific predictions have laid out a timeline for the next few years that tracks the end of humanity as we know it.
One former Google boss has given his own ominous warning though, insisting that we're about to step into a period of 'dystopia' for the next 15 years thanks to advancements in the AI world — and it's something that will be incredibly challenging to break free from.
What is causing the 15 years of dystopia?
As reported by the Daily Mail, former Google X Chief Business Officer Mo Gawdat has issues his fears regarding the imminent future of the world, outlining in a recent episode of the Diary of a CEO podcast how he thinks AI will enable a 'dystopia' for the next 15 years.
Speaking to Steven Bartlett, Gawdat asserted that "we will have to prepare for a world that is very unfamiliar," adding that humanity is "going to hit a short-term dystopia — there's no escaping that."
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Gawdat predicts that this period of adverse and uncontrollable circumstances will officially begin in 2027 and last for a period of roughly 12 to 15 years in total, although we will likely experience signs of escalation in the next year at the earliest.
While AI is the primary catalyst for this horrific future, it is the way that humans use these tools that causes the dystopian period, as opposed to the tech itself 'taking over', as many science fiction-esque theories have suggested.
He points towards the failing 'morality of humanity' that opens up the doors for this, as bad actors will take advantage of the new tools provided by AI to increase the level of scams, privacy invasions, and more terrible actions.
There will also be a "massive concentration of power" across a select few individuals as a consequence of this, which is something that fellow former Google head Geoffrey Hinton has also suggested, focusing on the immense wealth gap that AI will create.
What happens after the 15 year period has ended?
One slightly positive note is that Gawdat also predicts that a 'long-term utopia' will come as a result of this 15-year dystopian stretch, and during this time everything will idealist and work as intended.
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The unfortunate consequence of that is that we have to live through such a terrible period in order to reach that, and there's no necessary guarantee that things will line up as Gawdat suggests.
If you believe someone like Bill Gates – who has emphasized the positive aspects of artificial intelligence – then the tech will afford humans the ability to relax, work far less, and even reach medical and educational breakthroughs that were otherwise impossible.