AI is the End of Us
In the movie WALL-E, the humans of the future are depicted as mindless blobs overdependent on technology and their oversized gaming chairs.
Meanwhile, the movie The Terminator presents artificial intelligence (AI) as killer robots that evolve beyond human control and decide that humans are expendable.
With the sudden boom of AI, these once-fictional scenarios no longer seem very far-fetched. As technology becomes increasingly capable of thinking, deciding, and acting on its own, society risks either growing increasingly passive and dependent on it, as shown in WALL-E, or completely losing control over these systems, as in The Terminator. One or even both of these scenarios could realistically end up being humanity’s near future.
AI researchers believe that AI may be humanity’s last major scientific breakthrough. Geoffrey Hinton, known as “the Godfather of AI,” claims that “the risk is more than 50% of the existential threat.” Those are worse odds than a coin flip. While he does note that other researchers believe the statistic is closer to 10-20%, there is still a very real, terrifying chance that AI will be the end of humanity.
THE RISK
Hinton makes a great point: how can something less intelligent control something more intelligent? This is the same as a baby controlling a mother or a dog controlling its owner. To put it simply, it is implausible for humans to permanently control AI, unless there is a special condition, such as AI being completely aligned with human intentions.
Thus, realistically, AI will not be completely controlled by humans. Going back to the analogies earlier, consider this: a five-year-old child may not fully understand why their mother insists they study Math and English, just as a dog cannot completely understand why its owner decided to reward it with a tasty treat. To the less developed or less aware being, these actions can seem one-sided or arbitrary. However, the mother is acting with a long-term vision of her child’s future success in school, work, and life, just as the dog’s owner rewards behavior to encourage discipline; both are guided by foresight that the recipient cannot grasp. When AI surpasses human intelligence, it will be challenging to fully comprehend its capabilities and knowledge.
This is where problems of AI escaping the lab, building copies of itself, biologically engineering a new kind of disease, and then sending it to eradicate humans from the face of the Earth may occur.
At least, for now, this should not be our main concern.
THE FUTURE
In the foreseeable future, unemployment rates are expected to soar, as businesses increasingly turn to AI, which is quicker, cheaper, and more effective than humans.
While technological advancements have historically replaced certain jobs, such as factory and warehouse roles affected by robots and automation, the AI revolution is particularly concerning because it targets cognitive tasks (being “intelligent”). Unlike earlier technologies that aimed to replace physical labor, AI was designed to replicate and surpass human intelligence, making a wide range of jobs vulnerable to AI replacement.
THE HOPE
Despite everything you just read, the future of AI does not have to end with humanity’s destruction. In short, there is still hope.
First, the creation of narrow, purpose-specific AI systems designed to excel at a single task (like Grammarly or MathGPT), rather than broad, unchecked intelligence (like ChatGPT or Gemini), is one promising way to keep AI in check. Because these systems can excel only in a single field, they cannot make decisions without the help of other AIs or humans.
Moreover, societies will find new solutions to deal with widespread job displacement. Universal Basic Income is a popular approach that may offer financial stability to everyone as automation transforms the labor market. Humans are also likely to gravitate toward occupations that require empathy, creativity, social interaction, and entertainment, which are still fields where human involvement is necessary. Additionally, history indicates that new technological breakthroughs not only eliminate jobs but also create new and hard-to-predict industries and jobs (imagine telling someone from the 1800s about computer scientists and AI engineers).
Within the next century, humanity might not be the most intelligent force on the planet due to AI’s continued advancement, but whether this results in progress or decline will depend on the choices we make today. Understanding this, we should all learn how to use AI responsibly and develop lifelong skills that complement rather than compete with it.
Even though AI will not “take over” by overthrowing and killing us, it will take over in the sense that it will surpass human thinking and limits.
To the humans reading this: hasta la vista, baby.
Sources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXEuKULvvyI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6mTUK_yPKw
https://www.axios.com/2025/12/16/openai-gpt-5-wet-lab-biology
