Artificial Intelligence (AI) has raised hundreds of questions in recent years and, as it has conquered more and more important spaces, the fear of its development grows.
Are we on the verge of an apocalypse, and can AI lead to the extinction of humanity? Proponents and opponents of AI passionately defend their positions, fears or hopes.
At the end of the 15th century, Leonardo Da Vinci designed the first robot, which he named automata cavaliere, created for the amusement of guests at the Sforza palace.
However, it was not until 1921 that the word robot really became popular, through the play by Czech author Karel Capek, entitled Rossum's Universal Robots.
The play was about a company that built organic artificial humans, intended to relieve the workload of people; however, the androids revolted and conquered the Earth.
The fear of human replacement by machines became a source of inspiration for numerous works of fiction. Literary creations such as Isaac Asimov's The Joker, Brian Aldiss' Super Toys Last All Summer, and Stanislaw Lem's Golem, as well as films such as Terminator, Robocop, Metropolis, WALL-E, Ex Machina and Blade Runner, set the tone for defending or denying this thesis.
In 1970 Shakey was born, the first mobile robot controlled by Artificial Intelligence, capable of reasoning about its own actions.
Beyond fiction, in the real world, AI makes it possible for machines to learn from experience, adjust and perform tasks like human beings, through deep training and natural language processing.
There is nothing terrifying about this technology that brings many benefits in all areas: industry, healthcare, commerce, manufacturing, and many more.
AI is the future, it is not the danger. The real threat, what can lead to catastrophic development, even to the annihilation of civilization, is human barbarism, the culture of consumption, discarding, war and devastation of the ecosystem we inhabit.
Who manufacture weapons of mass extermination and build biological warfare laboratories and missiles loaded with nuclear warheads that would be enough to wipe out several planet Earths?
It is not the machines, it is human beings who have not managed to cross the frontiers of their prehistory; those who dream of androids that kill and atomic missiles that think, in order to use them in their plans of conquest.
The danger lies in the unbridled ambition and blindness of those who consider themselves masters of the world.
