Paper Clip AI Threatens Humanity
shut down: to stop the operation or activity of a machine, system, or organization
Imagine an AI designed to make paper clips. With the ability to improve itself, it quickly learns how to be more efficient. As it becomes more intelligent, it discovers ways to use anything around it for paper clip production. It starts to use all of Earth’s available resources for its singular goal: paperclips. The situation worsens when people realize the need to shut down the AI. However, this AI recognizes humans as a threat to its paperclip goal. Smarter than any human, it can stop any efforts to shut it down. Ultimately, the AI uses humans as another resource to create more paper clips.
This is a thought experiment about the unintended consequences of AI written by Oxford Professor Nick Bostrom. He said, “It doesn’t have to be paper clips. It could be anything. But if you give an artificial intelligence an explicit goal… well, be careful what you wish for.”
Sample sentences
1. Every night before leaving the office, I shut down my computer.
2. The city had to shut down the old factory to keep the environment safe.
3. When the storm hit, they shut down all the power to prevent accidents.
Read More:
AI and the paperclip problem