Mark Zuckerberg claims to have an AI which is making itself smarter, and I'm scared

It seems you can't go anywhere these days with seeing something using, or made with, artificial intelligence. The AI boom has been rapidly growing over the last few years, as investors flood companies with cash, desperate to get in on the action.

It's also getting smarter. While early AI generated media couldn't deal with hands and wrote like a cartoon robot from the early noughties, more recent examples are getting better. We recently saw the Veo 3 video platform unveiled by Google, which offers some of the most realistic video I've ever seen created by an AI.

Now, Meta CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, claims to have developed an AI which is making itself smarter. These systems – known as artificial superintelligence (ASI) – are seen by some as the next frontier of intelligent technology.

As reported by Live Science, the letter from Zuckerberg says, "Over the last few months we have begun to see glimpses of our AI systems improving themselves. The improvement is slow for now, but undeniable. Developing superintelligence is now in sight."

I can't help but feel a pang of fear when I read that. It has been forty years since The Terminator first launched in the UK, and it sometimes feels like the plot of that movie has become the basis for modern technological advances.

And look, I'm all for companies pushing the envelope and trying to bring new things to market, but sometimes these developments can feel like doing something simply for the sake of it. Humanity will surely find little use for an AI so smart it doesn't think or communicate in a recognisable manner, so what purpose does it ultimately serve?

I'm sure we won't end up in a situation where Arnold Schwarzenegger is chasing us through city streets and different decades, but I'm also certain I won't be the only one with concerns over how these super-intelligent systems are used.