The recent surge in AI and robots has led many to joke about them enslaving us one day, like in The Matrix or Terminator. Interestingly, French politicians have gone out of their way to defend the modern use of AI and robots, claiming that we won’t be enslaved by them.
Robots with strong AI won’t enslave us (apparently)
The Conseil d'État, France's highest administrative court, balked at the idea of a future where robots and AI will be enslaving us. Unsurprisingly, they blame some of the sci-fi movies that America has put out, though they didn’t name which films were responsible for this line of thinking.
"We're not at the point which some call the 'singularity,' when machines take control and humans get forced into their service, like in some American blockbusters or works of science fiction,” claims Rapporteur and State Counsel Alexandre Lallet (via Politico). “It's always humans making decisions."
Lallet also dismissed a question about robots or AI systems gaining personhood, saying: "[The question] didn't appear necessary or important to us."
Read More: AI is heading towards a Terminator future, claims Ethicist
It’s just a fantasy?
Continuing to downplay the possibility of robots and AI taking over, State Counsel Thierry Tuot added claims scientists have debunked this happening. Despite all of the things Hollywood has taught us, Tuot claims that this “singularity” is just a fantasy and not the real thing.
"All the scientists that we talked to think that [singularity] is a fantasy, pure and simple, and it amounts to mere marketing," Tuot continued, "We can confirm the revelation that none of us are, in fact, robots."
The fact that Tuot has to say they aren’t robots now has us wondering if they are, in fact, robots. Only time will tell but we wouldn’t be surprised if they are still in charge when the eventual robot apocalypse happens.