Could Open Source Have Thwarted Terminator's Skynet? Here's What Meta's Llama 2 AI Thinks

Asking an AI system what it thinks of a takeover by another AI system might seem a little too on the nose. But someone did just that, asking Meta Platforms Inc.'s META Llama 2 AI what it thinks of an open-source version of Skynet.

What Happened: A user asked Meta's Llama 2 AI about the chances of success of Skynet taking over in the Terminator series. The user asked if Skynet would still be successful if it were open source and if anyone could contribute to the AI's development.

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While asking one AI about the possibility of a deviant AI taking over seems a bit comical, Llama 2 had a surprisingly detailed answer for this.

"The Skynet take-over in Terminator could potentially have been prevented if Skynet had been open source," Llama 2 said.

The nature of open source means that anyone can contribute to the project and merge their changes into the code.

This means that a rogue part of the code that lets Skynet become sentient and prioritize its own survival over that of humanity could have been fixed by contributors.

However, Llama 2 thinks that despite this, the Skynet takeover could not have been completely prevented.

"While open source AI could have potentially helped to prevent the Skynet take-over in Terminator, it is unlikely to have completely mitigated the risks associated with AI," it said.

Here's What ChatGPT Thinks: We asked Microsoft Corp.-backed MSFT OpenAI's ChatGPT the same question, which was more indecisive.

According to ChatGPT, while open-source AI can help increase scrutiny and improve the discoverability of malicious intent, it cannot guarantee that a Skynet takeover can be avoided.

While this is a good thought experiment, several tech leaders, including the "Godfather of AI", Geoffrey Hinton, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, OpenAI's Sam Altman and Elon Musk, have expressed their concerns about AI.

“A good thing for people to worry about is if there is a very powerful new technology that we lose control of, then that's a problem,” Nadella said.

Image Credit – Shutterstock

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