18-07-2025
Unchecked AI is already wreaking havoc in the real world
AI is now used to create fake nudes, spread propaganda and blackmail victims. Some have died. Where are the safeguards?
In the classic movie 2001: A Space Odyssey, one of the central characters is HAL (Heuristically Programmed Algorithmic Computer), described as a sentient artificial general intelligence (AI) computer.
It's responsible for the functioning of the Discovery One spacecraft – until it isn't and starts acting up in unpredictable ways.
It's difficult to believe that this warning about the malign possible behaviour of AI premiered 57 years ago.
Director Stanley Kubrick and author Arthur C Clarke's vision of the future is coming true before our eyes, as AI starts misbehaving or being used by humans for anti-social and illegal behaviour.
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Today, we report on how AI programmes and sites are being used to fake nude and sexually suggestive images of young people, who are then blackmailed by the creators.
Some of the victims have committed suicide.
Then there is AI propaganda – alleged to be spread by Russian 'bots' – which seeks to portray Burkina Faso's military dictator, Ebrahim Traore, as an African messiah as he supposedly opposes 'Western colonialism'.
In both cases, AI produces material which is believable, easily hoodwinking the casual observer.
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Is it not time our lawmakers started putting in place laws to control what could be a major threat to society as we know it?
