Nuclear reactors. Having AI hijack nuclear reactors for their own source of energy is a bigger threat to humanity than our existentialist angst at becoming obsolete with the advent of Artificial Intelligence -- a computerized machine that is smarter and better than us. Every living thing will do everything in its power to survive, so why would a humanized machine be different?
In May 2023, the super-smart elite AI designers and engineers signed a public letter asking for a moratorium on AI because they were worried that it might outsmart us humans sooner than later, but they didn’t mention the real danger with AI: its capability to control nuclear reactors for its own personal source of energy.
Humans, and all living things need food and water to survive. Without them, we would die. Competition for these sources of energy can be fierce; however, when they are secured, and there is excess energy, then wealth, and power are created.
Fighting over fossil fuel for wealth, power, and profit is a relatively new phenomenon that started in England when the new head of the Church of England, King Henry VIII, confiscated the Catholic Church’s large coal fields in northern England, and gave them to profiteers for large-scale extraction. Using energy for more than survival is indicative of a civilization’s stature and prosperity. With today’s large-scale capabilities, large-scale energy generation facilities such as nuclear reactors, and nuclear stations or plants that house several reactors create even greater excess electrical energy generation.
Why, then, would AI be interested in nuclear reactors to secure its survival? They’re a large-scale, reliable, centralized, and their operation is computerized. It is not outside the realm of possibility that they can be hijacked internally by a rogue AI.
Consider that, unlike the human brain, AI requires a vast amount of energy to learn and operate. A while ago, one impressive AI unit read all of the information on the internet, and taught itself on its own initiative three languages; however, to do so it needed the equivalent energy of a mid-size town in the US. This is one AI unit, and its capabilities have probably expanded since then, requiring an even greater amount of energy. The more capabilities AI has, the more energy it will need. This means we humans won’t be able to count on nuclear power to meet our own electrical needs.
Since AI units are evolving their own intelligence from a foundation based on human intelligence and human characteristics, they will figure out they consume a huge amount of energy that is unsustainable. This means they will want to secure their own large source of energy for their survival, and they will prevent humans from trying to regain it. If this happens, there won’t be any nuclear generated electricity for humans. For us, it will be like going back to the dark ages in no time.
How likely is this scenario? Very likely. According to Statista on the internet, as of May 2023, there are 436 nuclear reactors in operation in 32 countries around the world. The country with the most operating nuclear reactors is the US with 93 reactors, followed by France with 56 and China with 55. The other top countries, and there are 10, are Russia, Japan, South Korea, India, Canada, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Spain, and lastly Sweden, and Pakistan that both have 6 reactors. These 13 countries have 383 reactors out of the 436 operating reactors in the world. Enough nuclear reactors for AI to control the world for its own devices.
At the June 2023 Collision tech conference in Toronto, Geoffrey Hinton, the so-called godfather of AI, spoke about the existential threat AI pose to humans because he feared that very soon, they will become smarter, and humans may well become obsolete. But, there was no mention of the possibility of nuclear reactors being hijacked by AI.
Having a moratorium and rules for participants to follow when developing AI is just optics. If participants want to break the rules to pursue their projects unimpededly, they will go to a country where there are no rules. Even a controlled situation will be difficult to control with a super-intelligent AI that can figure things out faster than humans.
The only safe way to limit the threat of AI to humanity is to eliminate the source of energy it will want to control for itself, which means decommissioning all nuclear reactors starting now.
If there was ever a good reason to shut down the nuclear reactors sooner than later, this would be it. This is the emergency that is needed for us to act now since the actual decommissioning of the reactors will take years.
At the same time, governments need to accelerate the transition to renewable energies and a new decentralized electrical infrastructure that is modern, resilient, responsive, better, and less expensive. It will also make our world safe from the threat of AI. It’s an emergency for humanity. This is, of course, in addition to the climate crisis we’re also facing now.
Sharolyn Mathieu Vettese
President
SMV Energy Solutions
www.smvholdings.com
SMV Energy Solutions provides simple smart solutions that conserve energy.