A kind of perfect storm is taking over the world: gas prices are climbing like never before (which means that everything will go up even more) and in a matter of four days the fear that artificial intelligence will get out of control and kill us all (and that, along the way, it will sink jobs, stock markets, and the Chinese Communist Party) has increased exponentially.
The war in Ukraine is driving up the price of diesel. In the United States, from 3.72 dollars a gallon six months ago to 6.23, on average, yesterday. That is why Trump has had the nerve to ask Ukraine not to attack Russian refineries, ignoring that his war in Iran, which is going more backwards than forwards, has caused similar effects on the price of oil all over the world. If there is one thing Americans do not forgive their presidents for, it is having to pay more money every time they go to fill up with gas, and a month and a half before the midterm elections, Trump no longer knows how to handle it. Not even four days ago he was scolding them, telling them that security was well worth paying a few more dollars at the gas stations. Only the narcotized die-hards of the parallel Trumpist world can buy into so many absurdities.
Meanwhile, now almost everyone has agreed that AI can be an existential threat. Of course, if an invention attacks us, it must be malpractice by the inventors, who do not protect it enough from probable misuse or incorrectly given orders. All multilateral prevention attempts have run up against the fact that they cannot enter a private company in another country and stop an investigation. Will we have to move towards an International AI Organization, as is already the case with atomic energy? Because the panic of these days has real foundations: everything that can technically be done, ends up being done. Even if it ends one's own life.
