Christopher Nolan warns that AI is approaching an “Oppenheimer moment”
Oppenheimer director Christopher Nolan has warned that artificial technology is approaching a “terrifying” precipice and measures must be put in place to avoid a damaging situation.
His latest film, Oppenheimer, focuses on the Manhattan Project as the US developed their nuclear weaponry programme. Nolan has been drawing parallels between that seismic historic scientific moment and the current rise of AI.
Speaking at a recent press screening, Nolan said: “The rise of companies in the last 15 years bandying words like algorithm — not knowing what they mean in any kind of meaningful, mathematical sense — these guys don’t know what an algorithm is.”
The Dark Knight director added: “People in my business talking about it, they just don’t want to take responsibility for whatever that algorithm does. Applied to AI, that’s a terrifying possibility. Terrifying.”
Having spent his recent time studying US weaponry programmes of the past, he continues: “AI systems will go into defensive infrastructure, ultimately. They’ll be in charge of nuclear weapons. To say that that is a separate entity from the person wielding, programming, putting that AI to use, then we’re doomed. It has to be about accountability. We have to hold people accountable for what they do with the tools that they have.”
His comments also arise during a period when the premiere for Oppenheimer was moved forward so that the actors involved could adhere to the current SAG strike, which is, in part, driven by concerns over the incursion of AI on the film industry.
Speaking about this matter, he concluded: “With the labor disputes going on in Hollywood right now, a lot of it — when we talk about AI, when we talk about these issues — they’re all ultimately born from the same thing, which is when you innovate with technology, you have to maintain accountability.”
You can check out the trailer for Oppenheimer below.
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