Blade Runner director Ridley Scott believes we're ‘completely f**ked’ thanks to AI

There is much debate on how artificial intelligence will impact society in the years to come, though Blade Runner director Ridley Scott has a pretty bleak outlook, comparing it to a "hydrogen bomb." The 85-year-old didn't mince his words on the matter in an interview with Deadline where he expressed his thoughts on the continuous advancement of this new technology ahead of the release of his latest film Napoleon. "...the moment you create an AI that’s smarter than you are, you’ll never know until the AI decides to do its own thing, then you’re out of control," he explained. "If I had an AI box, I could say, 'I want you to figure out how to turn off all the electricity in London'. Bam. Everything was dead. "That's a f**king time … no, it's a hydrogen bomb," he said when asked if AI is something to be worried about. “The world would close down if I switch it off, and we are all completely f**ked." "We're back to candles and matches. "Do you have candles and matches at home? I live in France, so I do.” Meanwhile, Scott isn't the first legendary director to voice concerns about artificial intelligence, as James Cameron has also previously spoken out on this issue. “I think the weaponization of AI is the biggest danger,” he told CTV News back in July this year. “I think that we will get into the equivalent of a nuclear arms race with AI, and if we don’t build it, the other guys are for sure going to build it, and so then it’ll escalate." The 69-year-old also referenced how he issued a warning about this through one of his previous films The Terminator which sees a cyborg assassin played by Arnold Schwarzenegger. “I warned you guys in 1984! And you didn’t listen," he added. How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings