The Coming Wave is [DeepMind co-founder Mustafa] Suleyman’s book-length warning about technological expansionism: in close to 300 pages, he sets out to persuade readers that artificial intelligence (AI) and synthetic biology (SB) threaten our very existence and we only have a narrow window within which to contain them before it’s too late. Unlike communism during the cold war, however, AI and SB are not being forced on us. We willingly adopt them because they not only promise unprecedented wealth, but solutions to our most intractable problems – climate change, cancer, possibly even mortality. Suleyman sees the appeal, of course, claiming that these technologies will “usher in a new dawn for humanity”.
But even if progress continues its frenetic pace, it is unlikely that societies will tolerate the ethical abuses Suleyman fears most. When a Chinese scientist revealed in 2018 that he had edited the genes of twin girls, he was sentenced to three years in prison, universally condemned, and there have been no similar reports since. The EU is set to prohibit certain forms of AI – such as facial recognition in public spaces – in its forthcoming AI Act. Normal legal and cultural pushback will probably slow the proliferation of the most disruptive and disturbing practices.
