I am not afraid that AI will kill me by 2030.

AI does not need another country’s land.

Perhaps AI will not destroy humanity.

I am perhaps one of the poorest people on this planet, and I have a very different response to the growing fear that artificial intelligence may wipe out humanity this decade. Three researchers associated with the US AI company Anthropic have warned about the possibility of advanced AI becoming an existential threat. One of them, Jacob Coxon, has reportedly left the company because of his concerns, while Elon Musk has also entered the debate. I do not dismiss these warnings. AI is extraordinarily powerful, and it must be developed with strong safeguards. But as a poor man struggling to survive, I have another question: what is humanity doing to humanity today?

I am not afraid that AI will kill me by 2030. I may die much earlier. If the price of petrol and diesel continues to rise because of the continuing Iran-US confrontation and disruption of energy routes, I could die from hunger within months. I do not use petrol for travelling. I do not need a luxury car or an expensive lifestyle. I need only bread to live. Yet the price of flour is directly affected by the cost of petrol and diesel because fuel is part of transporting wheat, flour and every other necessity from the farm to the market and finally to the kitchen.

So what am I doing to survive the higher cost of fuel? I am eating less every day. This is my personal experience of the global energy crisis. For a rich person, another increase in the price of petrol may mean a larger bill at the filling station. For a poor person like me, it can mean one less meal. If the conflict continues to push energy and food prices upward, starvation may kill me much earlier than any superintelligent machine could kill humanity.

That is why I question the way we discuss AI. Perhaps the greatest existential danger is not........

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