Microsoft President Suggests George Orwell’s ‘1984’ Could Happen by 2024 Because of AI Tech
Microsoft president Brad Smith is worried that the totalitarian surveillance famously seen in George Orwell’s novel “1984″ could exist in the real world soon because of artificial intelligence.
“If we don’t enact the laws that will protect the public in the future, we are going to find the technology racing ahead, and it’s going to be very difficult to catch up,” Smith told the BBC.
“I’m constantly reminded of George Orwell’s lessons in his book ’1984.’ You know the fundamental story…was about a government who could see everything that everyone did and hear everything that everyone said all the time. Well, that didn’t come to pass in 1984, but if we’re not careful that could come to pass in 2024.”
Brad Smith, president of Microsoft, speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington, during a Feb. 23, 2021, hearing on emerging technologies and their impact on national security. (Susan Walsh/)
The BBC report focused on AI innovation in China and its support from the country’s ruling Communist Party.
U.S.-based tech companies, however, have their own history of questionable AI use. Last year, amid nationwide Black Lives Matter protests, Microsoft, Amazon and IBM decided to stop selling facial recognition technology to police due to its lack of reliability identifying people of color.
Google, meanwhile, fired a top ethical AI researcher in December 2020, to much outcry from others in the industry.