Computers and industrial robots have always “thought” in their own way—by performing computations and carrying out tasks that we assign to them. AI is just the next, more advanced computational tool to do these jobs more efficiently. When people start worrying about AI suddenly becoming conscious or human-like, it’s still firmly in the realm of science fiction (with our current hardware, anyway).
But what about the research into growing neuron networks and teaching them to complete tasks? So far, data shows that lab-grown neurons are more efficient than any silicon chip—they require less energy and don’t need traditional hardware to learn. While the world is distracted with AI FUD, hardly anyone is paying attention to this breakthrough. Some estimates even suggest that future robots or computers might use lab-grown neurons as their “brains” instead of microprocessors. And since neurons are biological—the human brain, the most sophisticated computer known to man, is built on them—this technology stands a much better chance of developing a form of consciousness and even the ability to feel than any silicon chip currently in development.
We’re probably hundreds of years away from even contemplating the moral implications and hazards of this. I think the biggest threat to humanity today isn’t a rogue AI—it’s other humans with questionable ethics and morals, some of whom have the power to wipe out most of the planet with a single click. I don’t really believe that a superior AI model (both in terms of cognitive and emotional intelligence) will ever be more dangerous than a man with a grudge and enough power to act on it.
