Donald Trump Will Be ‘The Last Human Leader’ Of America, Author Says
Author Scott Adams, who is best known as the creator of the Dilbert comic strip, took to Twitter on Monday to predict that Donald Trump would be the “last human leader” of America. The post can be viewed here.
“No matter who wins in 2020, Trump will be the last human leader of The United States,” he wrote. “No future leader will be strong enough to overrule wherever A.I. pushes us.”
Adams made a similar tweet back in 2018 on the possibility of artificial intelligence influencing the presidency.
“President Trump will be the last human leader the United States will ever have. After him, complex algorithms that humans created but no longer understand will determine our opinions, and those opinions will control politics.”
The idea isn’t as far-out as it might seem. In a piece for Wired, writer and Epic Magazine co-founder Joshua Davis argued for the election of an “AI president.” Notably, he said that humans are more prone to letting their decisions be influenced by anger, ego, and a need to fuel their wealth and power.
“An artificially intelligent president could be trained to maximize happiness for the most people without infringing on civil liberties. It might even learn that it’s a good idea to tweet less — or not at all.”
Although the columnist acknowledged the idea might seem unlikely now, he pointed to the many ways that AI has already become integrated into everyday society, such as Tesla’s self-driving cars, which he believes will one day lead to Americans relying on algorithms for their daily commute.
Davis also claimed that America’s government is dragged down by partisan bickering that is often gridlocked by the people within it. Instead, he argued, an AI head of state could enact a platform that would be unencumbered by these things.
The world’s first AI politician was developed in New Zealand back in 2017 and was able to answer questions based on education, immigration, and housing, The Inquisitr reported at the time.
A recent 2019 survey from The Center for the Governance of Change found that a significant number of Europeans believe that AI models could govern better than humans. In particular, 37 percent of Europeans between the ages of 18 and 35 believe that digital avatars that can access data and profile population values would be preferable to politicians representing their interests.
As reported by The Washington Post, the Trump administration in August revealed a $1 billion initiative that will focus on funneling money into technology such as AI. The program intends to maintain the United States’ position as the frontrunner in global technology.
