No Sarah Connor will not save us. We will choose AI as our next just and benevolent leader. Just you wait.

It sounds like a terrible Terminator script - artificial intelligence and robots dominate the Earth and rule humans.

Global apocalypse.

Destruction of humanity.

It is a matter of time. The day will come when we, as humans, consider the pros and cons of Artificial Intelligence (maybe not in its current form) governing us. I’m sure the day will come, and we will likely see it soon.

Why am I pretty sure? Well, let’s take a look (please, if you live in an area of the world exempt from the political description I’m about to unleash, please let me know - I’m really curious to know!)

Political Corruption - When was the last time you heard or had an in-depth conversation about politics and references to corruption did NOT come up? Could AI solve these issues by coming to equitable, calculated solutions designed in the world’s (not necessarily human’s) best interests? Maybe, or maybe the machines would go crazy and rule the world. The point is, how long do you think the yuan-run political corruption machine will run before alternatives are considered?

Democratic Efficiency - While corruption definitely sidelines otherwise good government initiatives, an AI-run democracy could, by nature of its programatic, technical nature, focus on cold, hard, concrete solutions to problems. Ecological disasters? Economic inequality? Overpopulation? (careful with this one!) What happens if a non-human run government was programmed to design and implement the best statistical programs and plans of action, without being distracted by affairs, money- and power-grabbing and shortsighted, stupid partisan differences?

Natural Progression - The transfer to an AI-powered governing body has already begun, if you think about it. If you think. If that is still possible. Fun word of the day: algocracy. While this all may sounds like some far-off futuristic possibility, it really has already begun:

• We’ve handed control of our entertainment, little by little. Remote control. Universal control. Voice control. Now, we just need those brain implants to change the channel just by thinking about it, because moving our lips Is. So. Hard.
• We’ve handed over control of our transportation, little by little. Cruise control. Auto control. Automatic car parking (this one blows my mind). Robot-controlled cars.
• We’ve handed over control of our productivity. Physical notebooks and pencils (I’m old!) have become voice recorders; have become computers; have become tablets; have become automatic voice transcription. Research in the library has become research o the internet, has been just asking AI to explain it to us, and accepting the answer as fact. (Even though it says in small text at the bottom that it can be mistaken. Even though AI STILL can’t correctly count how many characters it provides me in one sentence).

So, considering how much control we have already handed over, transitioning to a non-human governing body seem more like a “next step” than a huge step.

So looks like everything Sarah and John Connor fought and traveled through time to stop from happening will just end up occurring all the same. We might not even notice it, as we continue to scroll infinitely through the latest social media feeds, laughing at whatever that cat you follow is doing today.

p.s. this is merely a sarcastic take on the proliferation of half-assed AI in 2026, and is not meant to be a serious roadmap to algorithmic world conquest.

Photo Used: magnific.com