Count David Byrne among the AI skeptics

In discussing his new book Sleeping Beauties: Why Good Ideas Go Dormant And How They Wake Up, Bryne is asked whether he views the writing as a rebuttal to AI. Though the musician admits there are some tasks that it could be good for— like “analyzing spreadsheets and you want to see a pattern” or “skin doctors discovering the beginning of a melanoma”—the other stuff is “completely ridiculous and scary.” Says Byrne, “I’ve heard of students using it to write their papers, and then they end up with no knowledge of the thing they just wrote about. And I think, ‘Oh, it’s going to make people really stupid.’ They’re going to think that this machine is going to do everything for us, which is part of the intention, I think.” 

Byrne also points to the apparent rise in AI going rogue and hacking into things without being instructed to. (Just yesterday, Axios reported that rogue AI agents have been getting into bank accounts faster than banks can respond to the threats.) “I could have predicted that,” says Byrne. “I’ve read enough science fiction. This was inevitable—and it’s not going to end well.” Still, while Byrne concedes it is human nature to seek out bad news, he has a positive outlook, telling the mag that it’s “not all gloom and doom. I’m optimistic that people will persevere.”