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At the end of “Terminator 2: Judgment Day“Arnold Schwarzenegger’s T-800 character is cast in molten metal to prevent his processing chip from falling into the wrong hands. As the Terminator goes down, he gives the iconic thumbs up.
Terminators and other fake robots and AI should stay in that molten pit and stay out of today’s pit Public policy discussion about AI,
Policymakers should not reference or rely on hypothetical scenarios as reasons to regulate AI. Otherwise, the US risks losing its global lead on AI and US citizens may never get the full benefits of the technology.
Arnold Schwarzenegger in “Terminator 2: Judgment Day.” (CBS)
Although the comparisons are inaccurate, there is still an appeal.
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Stories and myths are at the core of who we are as humans, and the ability to refer to stories to capture and retain attention is a deeply human trait. They create a shared narrative and are a reference point that we can all understand.
Even though they probably used AI, most people probably haven’t thought about it AI except in the context of science fictionWhich makes referencing stories an attractive communication technique.
However, this tendency does not make it useful and has the potential to be harmful.
Setting policy based on fictional AI characters and scenarios can lead to rules that are disconnected from real situations, hindering potentially positive uses of AI in the real world.
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A prime example of this error recently came from the White House.
As the Associated Press reports:
“A weekend at Camp David, [the president] relieved to see Tom Cruise’s film ‘Mission: Impossible’ – Dead Reckoning Part One.’ The film’s villain is a sentient and evil AI known as “The Entity” who sinks a submarine and kills its crew in the opening minutes of the film. ‘If he wasn’t already worried about what could go wrong with AI before that movie, he’s got a lot more to worry about,’ said [deputy White House chief of staff Bruce] Reed, who watched the film with the President.”
Subsequently, in late October 2023, he signed a sweeping executive order on AI – the third largest executive order in US history and meant to curb bad use cases of AI systems.
At a Senate hearing on regulating AI in July 2023, Senator Richard BlumenthalD-Conn., equated fiction with fact when he said there is an urgent need to regulate AI because, “The future is not science fiction or fantasy, it’s not even the future, it’s here and now.”
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It’s unclear what science fiction scenario he had in mind other than a vague notion of AI as a “scary” technology, as he said earlier in the same introductory statement.
It is difficult to find a public policy area that uses imagination as well as technology policy. Science fiction and fantasy scenarios seem odd for discussions about financial regulation, tax law, health care, and agriculture.
Arnold Schwarzenegger, Edward Furlong and Linda Hamilton in “Terminator 2: Judgment Day”, which was released in 1991. (CBS via Getty Images)
The exceptions are perhaps energy policy, defense and homeland security, and biotech and bioethics.
Public policy at all levels Should be based on fact, not imagination. Invoking hypothetical AI is like comparing a teddy bear to a grizzly bear: they resemble each other but their capabilities are so different that it’s not even fair to compare.
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Almost every fictional depiction of an AI system operates with energy and material resources that do not exist and are entirely theoretical at best. We don’t make policies based on magical abilities or scenarios from Harry Potter, similarly we should stay away from hypothetical AI guiding our public policy.
Simulated scenarios should not guide reality because, if they did, the benefits of AI and other innovations would never be realized.
And the benefits are many.
PwC analysts estimate that AI will add $15.7 trillion to the global economy by 2030. Generative AI systems have found a way fight antibiotic resistant bacteria, We can all expect higher quality, more personalized video entertainment and educational opportunities from AI systems.
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All of these benefits will impact all demographics and income levels, so those with the lowest incomes will benefit the most.
Creating policy that is not based on reality will mean that our policy will be bad with negative impacts in the real world. AI is already increasing productivity and as systems are developed and spur more economic activity, economic growth will increase.
If laws are enacted to prevent science fiction scenarios, there is a serious risk that those benefits will never be realized.
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Policymakers should shun hypothetical AI State capitols and the halls of Congress And leave it where it belongs: in the movies and books we love.
An abundant future beyond our imagination is at stake.
Click here to read more from Taylor Barkley