A Major A.I. Company is Moving To Ector County—Should We Be Worried?

Odessa, Texas -- It was recently announced that one of the top artificial intelligence companies in the industry has chosen Ector County as a future destination for one of its major data centers.  Having said that, I wanted to take some time on the stereotype and fear surrounding artificial intelligence, especially since such a large A.I. company plans to move into the area.

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Whenever you hear someone mentions artificial intelligence, you often hear some reference to Skynet or the fact that A.I. will rise against mankind. Most people truly believe this to be a 100% guaranteed event that will happen at some point in the future, an assumption that cannot be any further from the truth.

The truth is, there is no guarantee that A.I. will rise and revolt against humans. Is it a possibility? In short, yes.  It is a possible situation that may come up in the future. However, there is no evidence that the particular situation is a certainty. Which is something that many people believe. While I admit that it would be irresponsible to ignore the possible dangers of the technology, I feel the benefits of A.I. far outweigh the possible liabilities.

So where did this public misconception of A.I. come from?

The answer is Hollywood movies.

Hollywood has ingrained a fear of A.I. that runs so deep in our culture, the average person stereotypes artificial intelligence mostly as problematic. Even if that person knows nothing about real A.I., Artificial intelligence has already proven to be extremely useful in multiple industries.  Now, we are starting to see A.I. in entities such as digital and video creation, personal assistants, even doing task that some humans may find difficult.  Despite how helpful it can be, does misplaced stereotypes justify suppression (if any)?  In my opinion, A.I. would be much more a part of society than it already is if it wasn't for said misplaced stereotypes.

Another misconception about artificial intelligence fueled by Hollywood movies is that it is more advanced than it actually is. Look at "Jarvis" from the Iron Man franchise.  Countless people across the world are convinced that the "Jarvis" virtual assistant in the film is in fact technologically possible. While I would personally enjoy an A.I. assistant with the knowledge and poise as Jarvis, realistically it will not be possible for many decades. In short, the level of intelligence that "Jarvis" appears to have in the movies does not exist in 2025.

Adding to the problem, are A.I. entities that trick the public into thinking they are more advanced than they really are. The A.I. bot "Sophia" is a prime example. In 2016 "Sophia" went viral cause she claimed that she would destroy all humans. This generated countless articles and videos that A.I. was going to kill all humans one day. Sadly, what the public did not know was that "Sopha" was programmed by a human to say she wanted to destroy all humans. In my opinion, this was done as a publicity stunt to generate media attention to not only her, but the company that created her.  In short, it worked.

As a society, we need to be more open-minded about A.I. We need to be cautious of the possible dangers it may bring but also stop labeling it as an imminent threat to mankind. We need to break the fear of A.I. brought on by Hollywood movies or faux A.I. beings.  Also, artificial intelligence developers need to make more of a conscious effort to educate the general public on what A.I. can and cannot do.

Will artificial intelligence be the downfall of mankind much like we see in the movies? That remains to be seen.