Friday essay: some tech leaders think AI could outsmart us and wipe out humanity. I’m a professor of AI – and I’m not worried

By Toby Walsh, Professor of AI, Research Group Leader, UNSW Sydney

In 1989, political scientist Francis Fukuyama predicted we were approaching the end of history. He meant that similar liberal democratic values were taking hold in societies around the world. How wrong could he have been? Democracy today is clearly on the decline. Despots and autocrats are on the rise.

You might, however, be thinking Fukuyama was right all along. But in a different way. Perhaps we really are approaching the end of history. As in,…

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