Don’t Let Big Tech Dictate Humanity’s Future

As the artificial-intelligence revolution continues to gain momentum, wealthy individuals in Silicon Valley believe they can create a superior species through technology. Sam Altman, head of OpenAI, stated in 2017 that AI would allow humans to design their own descendants. This could lead to either digital intelligence taking over or humans merging with machines, with Altman believing the latter is the best-case scenario.

Dario Amodei, head of Anthropic, has even opened the possibility of granting rights to AI models, although it is unclear if these models are conscious.

Elon Musk, the head of SpaceXAI and the richest man on Earth, has expressed his support for the idea, stating that propagating superintelligence to the stars is a great success condition for a biological bootloader. This implies that humans are merely a step towards digital superintelligence. Peter Thiel, a billionaire co-founder of Palantir and a major AI investor, has admitted that he is unsure whether humans should survive.

These views are rooted in the transhumanist ideology, which believes that technology will allow humans to transcend their current state by either creating a new species or merging with machines. The reasoning behind this is that these "posthumans" would be smarter, infallible, and capable of conquering the universe and living forever.

While these ideas may seem like fantasies of science fiction, they are the beliefs of some of the most powerful people in the world, who are investing trillions of dollars to make them a reality. With machines already beginning to replace humans in various fields, the vision of Big Tech oligarchs for the future is becoming increasingly concerning.

The majority of Americans, 91 percent, believe we need guardrails on AI, while 74 percent do not trust the leaders of AI companies and 73 percent are concerned about AI posing a threat to human survival. In May, Pope Leo XIV released his first encyclical, Magnificent Humanity, warning against an "anti-human vision" where humans are reduced to data, cogs in a machine, or commodities.

In response, Thiel called the pope a "Chinese Communist agent," but the pope was correct in his assessment of Thiel and his fellow Big Tech oligarchs.

The author argues that humanity must take immediate action to prevent a handful of multibillionaires from recklessly attempting to replace humans. They propose placing a pause on advanced-AI development and banning artificial superintelligence until a new federal body can ensure its safety. The author introduces legislation to do just that, emphasizing that AI is an existential threat to humanity and must be treated as such.