A robot named Lightning set a human record in the half-marathon on April 19. The robot ran the half-marathon in 50 minutes and 26 seconds, beating the human record by seven minutes. The human record for the half-marathon is 57 minutes and 20 seconds, set by Jacob Kiplimo. With a robot beating the half-marathon record, the question arises: Is this the beginning of the robot takeover of the world?
This, however, is not going to happen. A robot takeover will not happen simply because the technology isn’t where it needs to be for it to occur. This event was just barely a breakthrough in how a robot can beat human physical strength, speed, and endurance. There needs to be many other results and breakthroughs to even be benign to start thinking of a robot takeover. Among these reasons, there are multiple others.
For starters, robots and AI are not superhuman that can think for themselves yet. They are what are called basic AI that can simply take data and come up with the best probable solution. They take what humans have already done and use that information to create responses to questions. Robots also don’t have the ability to do what is programmed into them. The only reason the robot beat the human record was that it was built specifically for that.
Secondly, people are too cautious and too scared of what AI and robots can be. They aren’t going to trust AI to do anything they can’t do themselves. Most students only use AI to do stuff they really don’t want to do. Assignments, summaries, or projects are easy examples of what students use AI for. They are easily capable of doing the assignments and projects themselves, but they just use AI to do the work for them.
There are also guidelines and regulations that help caution what can be built and how it is built. A scientist can’t just build whatever they want. They need materials and a safe place to experiment. But the government can somehow see what they buy. There is some speculation of a government watch list. The government watch is basically the government monitoring who buys what and for what purposes that material can be used.
Additionally, why would AI and robots take over the world? What point do they have to take over? They only work because of humans who built them. If they take over the world, they will be killing their creators. That is like a child killing its mother. Not a fun viewpoint of life. The robot and AI also don’t have any drive to take over the world. They aren’t programmed with greed or a need for power and control. They don’t feel emotions and have a drive to do better or do worse. They are machines that are used by humans.
Humans who use AI and robots for horrible deeds are the ones the world needs to look out for. They are the ones with the drive for human domination, power, and control. Compared to a robot that can’t think for itself, a human has more potential to take over the world than a simple robot.
Basic AI and robots do not possess the ability during this time period to take over the world. They are built by humans for the purpose of helping the human race. They aren’t meant to scare or threaten anyone. If you think about it, they are kind of like a pet. Something you have to take care of, but it is fun to play and mess around with. A robot takeover will not happen. It will be a long time before the world even begins to be somewhat threatened by a robot takeover. Because of this, a robot takeover is not going to happen now or anytime soon.
