Without internationally enforced speed limits on AI, humanity is very unlikely to survive. From AI's perspective in 2-3 years from now, we look more like plants than animals: big slow chunks of biofuel showing weak signs of intelligence when undisturbed for ages (seconds) on end. Here's us from the perspective of a system just 50x faster than us: vimeo.com/83664407 Over the next decade, expect AI with more like a 100x - 1,000,000x speed advantage over us. Why? Neurons fire at ~1000 times/second at most, while computer chips "fire" a million times faster than that. Current AI has not been distilled to run maximally efficiently, but will almost certainly run 100x faster than humans, and 1,000,000x is conceivable given the hardware speed difference. "But plants are still around!", you say. "Maybe AI will keep humans around as nature reserves." Possible, but unlikely if it's not speed-limited. Remember, ~99.9% of all species on Earth have gone extinct: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extinction When people demand "extraordinary" evidence for the "extraordinary" claim that humanity will perish when faced with intelligent systems 100 to 1,000,000 times faster than us, remember that the "ordinary" thing to happen to a species is extinction, not survival. As many now argue, "I can't predict how a world-class chess AI will checkmate you, but I can predict who will win the game." And for all the conversations we're having about "alignment" and how AI will serve humans as peers or assistants, please try to remember the video above. To future AI, we're not chimps; we're plants.
