Kenne Michael 
Without oversight, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin asserts that ultra-advanced artificial intelligence has a “serious chance” of superseding humans and becoming the “apex species” of the planet.
He stated, however, that this will ultimately depend on how humans may intervene in AI advancements.
New monster post: my own current perspective on the recent debates around techno-optimism, AI risks, and ways to avoid extreme centralization in the 21st century.https://t.co/6lN2fLBUUL pic.twitter.com/h5aIyFNCoh
— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) November 27, 2023
Buterin, regarded by some as a cryptocurrency industry thought leader, argued in a blog post published on Nov. 27 that AI is “fundamentally different” from other recent inventions, including social media, contraception, airplanes, firearms, the wheel, and the printing press, because AI can generate a new type of “mind” that can disregard human interests. He further stated:
“AI is […] a new type of mind that is rapidly gaining in intelligence, and it stands a serious chance of overtaking humans’ mental faculties and becoming the new apex species on the planet.”
In contrast to climate change, a nuclear conflict, or a man-made pandemic, Buterin posits that the advent of superintelligent AI may eradicate humanity entirely, especially if it perceives humans as a threat to its own survival.
“One way in which AI gone wrong could make the world worse is (almost) the worst possible way: it could literally cause human extinction.”
“Even Mars may not be safe,” Buterin added.
A survey conducted in August 2022 by more than 4,270 machine learning researchers estimated a 5–10% probability that AI will eradicate humanity, as cited by Buterin.
Nevertheless, although Buterin emphasized that such assertions are “extreme,” there are methods by which human beings can achieve success.
Interfaces between the Brain and Techno-Optimism
Buterin proposed the integration of brain-computer interfaces (BCI) to grant humans increased agency over sophisticated forms of AI-driven cognition and computation.
A BCI is a conduit through which the brain’s electrical activity is transmitted to an external device, like a robotic limb or computer.
Buterin stated that this would reduce the time between human and machine interactions from seconds to milliseconds, and more significantly, it would guarantee that humans maintain a certain level of “meaningful agency” over the world.
According to Buterin, this path would be “safer” because human involvement in every decision made by AI machines would be possible.
“We [can] reduce the incentive to offload high-level planning responsibility to the AI itself, and thereby reduce the chance that the AI does something totally unaligned with humanity’s values on its own.”
Meanwhile, as maximizing profit does not always guide humans down the most desirable path, the co-founder of Ethereum also proposed “active human intention” to steer AI in a direction that benefits humanity.
Human beings are deeply good. pic.twitter.com/AbOfd75IJ4
— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) November 27, 2023
Furthermore, Buterin concluded that “we, humans, are in the brightest star” in the universe due to the technological advancements that have prolonged human potential by millennia and presumably for many more:
“Two billion years from now, if the Earth or any part of the universe still bears the beauty of Earthly life, it will be human artifices like space travel and geoengineering that will have made it happen.”