The Terminator movie franchise predicted a future in which Earth is overrun by artificial intelligence. With the real-life rise of AI, many have predicted that our society will soon mirror that of the Terminator universe.
Arnold Schwarzeneggar, Terminator star and former governor of California, takes things a step further. He claims that the future predicted in the iconic films is already here.
Why Does Arnold Schwarzeneggar Believe That We Are Already Living in a Terminator-Esque World?
Arnold Schwarzenegger: James Cameron’s ‘Terminator’ Predicted the Rise of A.I. https://t.co/rNAF49BADQ pic.twitter.com/1kEGxNqDL8
— IndieWire (@IndieWire) June 29, 2023
The Terminator, released in 1984, was one of the first major films to explore the downsides of artificial intelligence, its plot centering on a war between humanity and self-aware robots who turned on their creators.
While by no means an Oscar-worthy film, it is undeniably fun, featuring all of Hollywood’s action tropes (car chases, shootouts, and prime-era Schwarzenegger on a constant destructive rampage). The notion that it predicted the world we currently live in may seem a bit far-fetched.
While speaking at the Los Angeles event “An Evening With Arnold Schwarzenegger,” the actor claimed of the future portrayed in the Terminator films, “Now over the course of decades, it has become a reality… So it’s not any more fantasy or kind of futuristic. It is here today. And so this is the extraordinary writing of Jim Cameron [The Terminator’s screenwriter].”
Is Schwarzeneggar Alone in Fearing the Rise of AI?
Whoopi Goldberg fears for humanity’s future under AI: ‘It’s not good’ https://t.co/HJXgIwudVG pic.twitter.com/JgAafdjqkK
— New York Post (@nypost) May 31, 2023
Aside from Schwarzeneggar, SpaceX and Twitter CEO Elon Musk has expressed reservations regarding the rise of artificial intelligence.
While his fears were perhaps less severe than those expressed by Schwarzeneggar, he said at the Wall Street Journal’s CEO Council Summit, “There’s a non-zero chance of it going Terminator… It’s a small likelihood of annihilating humanity, but it’s not zero. We want that probability to be as close to zero as possible.”
Actress Whoopi Goldberg also expressed the need for caution in the development of artificial intelligence, telling her co-hosts on The View, “You know she is listening [Alexa], I don’t want her in the house… I don’t want anything that is smart enough to lock me out of my house. I don’t want anything that won’t let me drive my car. When you watch science fiction, it’s right there. They tell you.”
Musk Founds Artificial Intelligence Startup
Announcing formation of @xAI to understand reality
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 12, 2023
Despite his fear of the disastrous consequences of artificial intelligence, Elon Musk has recently founded an AI startup, xAI.
As of now, the purpose of the startup is unclear, as is the amount of funding it has been given. Musk has vaguely commented that it was founded to “understand the true nature of the universe.”