Can AI Take Over the World?

Science fiction has long included stories about robots that gain sentience, declare war on humanity, and take over the world. So with the rapid growth in artificial intelligence in recent years, it's perhaps unsurprising that many people's thoughts have turned to Skynet or the Matrix. Can AI take over the world? Is humanity doomed? It makes for an engaging movie plot, but don't panic just yet.

AI might be getting a lot smarter, but the risks of AI taking over the world are relegated solely to science fiction. That's because, despite its intelligence, AI still needs human input. Since AI cannot generate new ideas of its own, it's completely reliant on humans to tell it what to do and how to do it. There are also plenty of tasks that AI will probably never be able to handle on its own that humans can complete with ease. It's much more likely that AI will work in tandem with humans, especially since human interaction is important to people; the pandemic lockdowns of 2020 showed how different and less enjoyable life can be when it's taken away.

While its potential to be able to make decisions without human input seems pretty low, at least at present, AI can be a powerful tool for humanity, and its impact is certainly noticeable in today's world. This technology is great for automating tasks that humans find tedious or repetitive, and it can also make time-consuming work much faster. But human oversight is always needed to ensure that the AI's work is done correctly.

In the future, it's possible that AI could surpass human intelligence, but we can trust that the likelihood of an AI revolution is very low right now. For the time being, if we want to see machines take over the world, we'll need to open a book or watch a movie.