AI claims will probably be ‘primary’ motive why Doomsday Clock strikes nearer to midnight
EXCLUSIVE: In a chat with the Daily Star about the Doomsday Clock announcement, Google’s AI-powered large language model called Gemini made a horrifying claim
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Artificial Intelligence has named itself as one of the key reasons why the Doomsday Clock will move closer to midnight. With the announcement just hours away, the Daily Star chatted to Google’s AI-powered large language model called Gemini to see what it thinks the impact of AI on the clock will be.
And it didn’t disappoint – but also really horrified us to the point of needing a long lie down in a dark room. The new state of the Doomsday Clock will be confirmed at 3pm, and it is more than likely that the boffins behind it will bring the clock closer to midnight from its already-worrying 89 seconds position.
Last year, climate change, war in Europe, Donald Trump and artificial intelligence were ruled as the main reasons why it was moved to a historically dangerous level.
And when posing the question of its own impact on this year’s decision, Gemini told us that it would be a “primary” reason for the world being drawn closer to Doomsday.
It said: “It is highly probable that AI will be a primary driver if the Clock moves closer to midnight tomorrow. In fact, AI was already a cited reason for the move to 89 seconds in 2025.
“Nuclear war is is the single biggest factor regarding AI and the Clock. As nations integrate AI into their Nuclear Command and Control (NC3) systems, the window for human decision-making shrinks.
“The Bulletin fears that AI-driven early warning systems could hallucinate a launch (mistaking a cloud or a glitch for a missile). If AI is automated to respond, we could see a nuclear exchange start before a human President or General has time to pick up the phone.
“With the US, China, and Russia all racing to automate weapons systems, the ‘human in the loop’ is becoming a ‘human on the loop’ – or potentially removed entirely.”
Soberingly, it also claimed that AI plays a large part in the “erosion of truth,” mainly due to deepfakes and inaccurate claims made when people question it.
It also added that, albeit low-impact, the way AI harms the environment will play a part in the decision.
Summing up, it stated: “AI is a ‘threat multiplier’ and a revolutionary tool. It accelerates scientific breakthroughs and efficiency but simultaneously erodes truth through disinformation, automates warfare, and lowers barriers for biological attacks.
“By shrinking human decision time during crises, it makes the global system more capable yet significantly more fragile and volatile.”
Excellent news, really comforting . . . nothing to worry about here.
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