“Hey Camp, I read this article in the Guardian by Astra Taylor and Saul Levin about the growing movement to stop the proliferation of Datacentres. They argue that Datacenters provide a physical place and focal point where people can show up and directly confront out-of-control and otherwise impossible-to-reach tech billionaires. I think they have it about right.”

“I have to admit I’m kind of in the dark about all this AI smorgasbord. I don’t know what’s hype and right, don’t know the difference between a bot and an avatar or a real photo or a fake one. It’s all happening much too fast for ordinary people to do anything about it. It’s like a big storm coming at us and no way to get out of the way.” 

“I know it’s kind of scary. That’s why I like this new movement. This brewing populist resistance against massive electricity gobbling Datacentres represents a critical new frontline in the fight against tech-enabled authoritarianism.” 

“Is it too late to stop the exponential rise and capabilities of the new Super AI that make the human brain look like that of a snail in comparison?”

“Didn’t all those tech executives sign a statement in 2023, warning that mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority.“

“I remember something like that but I’m afraid that Autonomous Artificial Intelligence or Super AI, is the frontier that everyone, especially the fab 4 – Open AI, Anthropic, Nvidia and Google are racing towards. The scary part is that they don’t trust each other and therefore do not want to share their knowledge. More importantly there is no regulation or as Max Tedmark of MIT put it: “There is less regulation for AI companies than for sandwich shops. It’s like driving a car at top speed with your eyes closed. The outcome is pretty obvious.”

“I guess in the end it’s not that Super AI will take over world affairs from humans, it’s that we give it to them, basically encourage them to replace us.”

“In the industrial age we built machines that replaced physical chores like digging, pushing, pulling and lifting. Add to that the magic of flying and we lived better lives ever after. This new AI age is now replacing and bypassing the human mind and the capability to compute, solve and invent. I think when the first computer chess player became unbeatable, we crossed a threshold.”

“There seems to be a lot of commercial pressure to get these products out fast, definitely before the other guy, all without any guardrails and regulations. This is the world we live in now and what was supposed to take decades to develop has already happened.”

“Yes, and super programs like Claude Mythos which even their developer Anthropic does not want to release to the public is only the tip of the iceberg. Next is the closed loop system where one version produces a faster and smarter version of itself. Anthropic has warned that this could happen soon. Super Artificial Intelligence does have the potential to destroy and replace humans. The industry is in dire need of regulation and co-operation by the developers.”

“You get no argument from me. I’d be happy to go back to my flip-phone and maps instead of GPS.” 

“Just this week Dario Amodei, the head of Anthropic, said that governments should block the public release of Artificial Intelligence models if an independent auditor deems them risky. On the other hand, Oracle committed $70bn in the coming year to build data centres for AI.”  

“It looks like the train has left the station and is barrelling down the track with nobody stopping it or with no clear destination.”

“What do you think about artificial intelligence Vicky?” I asked when she swapped out our empties.

“As long as it doesn’t invade my bank account or become my son’s best friend. He’s only five and could spend all day cyber-spacing if I’d let him. I kick him out of doors to go play with stick and rocks.”

“Smart choice Vicky,” Camp said and we both drank to sticks and stones.