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Opinion

If AI Is a Weapon, Why Are We Handing It to Teenagers?

Governments call AI an arms race. In war, weapons are safeguarded, not placed in the hands of children.
If AI Is a Weapon, Why Are We Handing It to Teenagers?
A "virtual friend" is seen on the screen of an iPhone in Arlington, Va., on April 30, 2020. Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images
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Commentary

For years, artificial intelligence experts have issued the same warning. The danger was never that machines would suddenly “wake up” and seize power, but that humans, seduced by AI’s appearance of authority, would trust it with decisions that are too important to delegate. The scenarios imagined were stark: a commander launching nuclear missiles based on faulty data; a government imprisoning its citizens because an algorithm flagged them as a risk; a financial system collapsing because automated trades cascaded out of control. These were treated as legitimate concerns, but always crises for a future time.

Kay Rubacek
Kay Rubacek
Author
Kay Rubacek is an award-winning filmmaker, author, speaker, and former host of NTD's “Life & Times.” After being detained in a Chinese prison for advocating for human rights, she has dedicated her work to facing communist and socialist regimes in their modern, global forms. She has also contributed to The Epoch Times since 2010.