Yuri Milner, a billionaire venture capitalist, said in an interview at TechCrunch Disrupt 2015 last week that he doesn’t foresee trouble in the future between humans and robots. Rather than war, bloodshed and an outcome similar to that of “The Terminator,” he sees a “peaceful coexistence” between man and machine.

Despite Milner’s significant clout due to his investments in Facebook and Twitter, his opinion contradicts that of two of tech’s most revered figures: Stephen Hawking and Elon Musk.

In an interview in 2014, Musk said artificial intelligence is a bigger threat to humanity than nuclear warfare, global warming, meteors and anything else that can keep one up at night.

“I think we should be very careful about artificial intelligence,” Musk said. “If I had to guess at what our biggest existential threat is, it’s probably that. So we need to be very careful.”

Musk failed to mention anything even remotely resembling a peaceful coexistence and it sounds like he thinks robots are a ticking time-bomb ready to blow up humanity without the intervention of stricter regulations.

Now, if this was only Musk’s opinion, and no one else agreed with him, maybe his thoughts could be passed off as both exaggerated and cynical. That’s not the case, however, as Musk and Hawking are part of a group of scientists, researchers and academics that has written an open letter calling for the termination of AI weapons development.

To sum up that letter, it basically says: if the world continues to develop artificial intelligence for warfare, it may become the most destructive technology mankind has ever created.

I don’t know if Milner has read the letter or not, but the notable names attached to it are enough for me to doubt the likelihood of the man-machine relationship Milner alluded to.

It’s not that I believe robots are evil. Rather, it’s the inevitability of the continued development of robots for military purposes that makes me worry. While most drones are human-controlled right now, self-controlled drones are set to hit the consumer marketplace in 2016.

The threat posed by artificial intelligence goes beyond just being implemented as killing machines, however. A Business Insider article projects that one-third of all jobs will be replaced by robots within the next 10 years. So, not only will they be used as weapons, but they’ll take our jobs, too.

Mass media often leans toward a struggle between man and machine more than a rosy partnership between the two. Examples include “I, Robot,” “The Terminator” and “Ex Machina.”

They all consist of a struggle between man and machine in which the machines have a high likelihood of vanquishing us, except there is a hero who saves the day. “Ex Machina” doesn’t exactly fit that script, but you get the point.

When the inevitable robot-human war does happen, Will Smith isn’t likely to be around to save us, and Arnold certainly won’t. The question is: who will?

The answer may be that we are unsavable. What these movies and other various pieces of media indicate is that society is creating a Frankenstein that we cannot stop.

Until there is confirmation that Milner has seen the future that Hollywood and distinguished figures have drawn up for us, it’s hard to trust his judgment on this issue.

He’s just too optimistic.

Paul Sarconi is a junior broadcast and digital journalism major. His column appears weekly. He can be reached at pjsarcon@syr.edu and followed on Twitter @paulsarconi.

Published on September 30, 2015 at 12:04 am