But they were also incomplete and answered only a few of Axel’s questions. Axel suspected Hugo had some internal grudge or reason for feeling this way. Or perhaps he had some kind of ego bias, just like Bhavin, tainting his thinking. Sometimes these tech gurus took the opposing view just for the sake of being different.
Suspicion wasn’t enough, however. So here Axel was, in beautiful Kauai.
Hugo’s beach bungalow was relatively modest for a man of his means. It was no more than two-thousand square feet, and it lacked fancy appliances, designer couches or choice artwork. Axel did only a brief sweep of all the rooms and then glanced at the hanging mirror above the living room mantle. The reflection showed a stranger. His fake nose, bronzed skin and brown-irised contacts made him completely unrecognizable.
He took a seat in a deep pastel-green sofa chair. To be in character, he lit a cigar. Then he stared out at the surfers as they slalomed across the waves in the nearby surf.
“Entering now,” his earbud tweeted. Then Axel heard the door to the bungalow open and close.
Hugo strolled into the adjoining kitchen and failed to notice Axel at first, focusing instead on the fridge contents. He pulled out a frozen latte drink and guzzled half of it down. It was then that he wrinkled his nose, and his eyes searched for the source of the aromatic cigar smoke, only to connect with Axel’s eyes in the living room.
“Are you a friend of Colin’s?” he asked.
“No, I’m here to have a civil conversation with you.”
“No, no, no. I don’t care who you are. Get out of here. This is illegal, trespassing. Get the fuck out now or I’ll call the police.” Hugo took out his phone and held it in the air.
“You’re not going to be able to use your phone right now. We’re jamming it.”
Hugo looked at his phone. Then he abruptly darted back through the kitchen for the door. Axel heard his feet sliding to a stop in the hallway.
“And we can’t have you leave, either,” Axel called around the corner. “Wade, please escort our friend back in here.”
Wade’s stocky frame appeared, dragging Hugo by the arm. He pushed Hugo effortlessly into the room and blocked the exit.
“Not so rough, now,” Axel said.
Hugo rubbed his arm.
“Did you have a good surf?” Axel asked, gesturing out toward the crashing waves. “I’m not one for the water in general. Surfing, in particular, is a lost art to me.”
Hugo didn’t respond. His eyes darted back and forth, ostensibly looking for some means of escape.
Axel uncrossed his legs and leaned over his knees. “Look, what we want from you is quite simple. It should be easy for you to provide, and it won’t in any way compromise you or your family. The sooner you realize that, the sooner this will be over, and we’ll be on our way, never to return.”
“What do you want?” Hugo asked.
“Please sit. Wade, wait near the exit.”
Slowly, cautiously, Hugo sat down in the chair across from him. He looked up at the painting on the far wall.
“Yes, your security system has been disabled. There won’t be any help coming soon. But again, we have no desire to hurt you, or even take anything from you, other than a few minutes of your time. So if you will oblige me, can I ask you a few questions?”
Hugo nodded slowly. He was looking less fearful, more critical. Then his expression softened considerably as he came to some internal realization. He sat back into his couch and crossed his legs. “Well, it’s about time,” he said.
“Excuse me?”
“I knew someone would come. Or rather, I was hoping. Not too many people have the ability to break into my personal email.”
“So why is it that you think I’m here?”
“Because of the risk of superintelligent AI.”
For a moment Axel wondered if there could have been a leak. Did Grant let on, or maybe even Bhavin? He could have cyber tripwires in his email that outsmarted Grant. He had to admit it was plausible that Hugo had monitored their cyber intrusion and even anticipated the discussion. This was Hugo Guilherme he was speaking with.
“This conversation was inevitable, really,” Hugo said. “I’m sure there are many people that are thinking about it, but are unwilling to speak out. If someone was worried, I would be one of the best people to talk to on the subject, so I figured someone would come knocking eventually.”
Axel tried to stay in control. “Good. Then you know I will want you to give me your honest opinion. And not just the risk of taking away jobs, but the potential for it to destroy us all.”
“Yes, based on the trail you left in my emails, that’s what I assumed. Who do you work for?”
At least Hugo didn’t know everything. Axel smiled and shook his head. “Not important. What is important is that we won’t take kindly to any bias in your views. I truly want your unfettered opinion. As you know, we have information from your personal files, so we can catch you if you try to spin a biased story that doesn’t match up. And then, well…” Axel brought out his pistol and placed it on the coffee table next to him.
Hugo raised his eyebrows and tilted his head to the side. “It’s nice to know you’re serious.”
“On the other hand, if I feel you are being completely honest, then I will leave and never bother you again. I will even pay you for your time.”
Hugo rolled his eyes. It reminded Axel of his daughter Erin, except Hugo’s eye roll was done properly.
“Let’s get on with it then,” Axel said. “Specifically, I want you to tell me why you think some sort of a dangerous superintelligence could be unleashed soon, and also, why we will be unable to recognize it and stop it in time. We have always managed to mitigate other dangers humanity has faced. Why not this one?”
“You want me to be completely objective…?” Hugo asked, his eyes narrowing.
Axel, nodded, smiled and tapped on his watch.
Hugo sat up and placed his hands on his knees. He was staring directly into Axel’s eyes. “First, let me give you my unfettered opinion, as you call it. I truly believe humanity is standing on a trap door that will lead us into oblivion if we don’t take drastic measures to alter our current course. The existential risk of superintelligence is imminent and severe.”
“Well, that’s rather dramatic.”
“You asked for the truth. That’s what I really think.”
“Explain.”
“Okay, let’s start with superintelligence. Contrary to many pundits who think it won’t happen at all, it will. Intelligence is just a matter of information processing, whether it’s by our brains, or by a computer. So as long as we continue to advance computer software and hardware, we will arrive at something smarter than humans. I think we are actually very close to this inflection point now.”
“But if it’s as smart as we are, I don’t see how it would act malevolently toward its own creators?”
Hugo grimaced.
“Go on. Completely unbiased,” Axel said, tapping on his gun with his finger.
“You are anthropomorphizing.”
“What does that mean?”
“You are assuming the AI would act like a human, just because it was made by humans. That’s a false assumption.”
“Why?”
Hugo frowned. “The primary reason humans don’t hurt other humans are genetically driven, built into our DNA over millions of years of evolution, or taught by our parents. We don’t have morality as a philosophical construct programmed into any common AI systems today, nor is it easy to do. A superintelligent machine won’t have this morality holding it back. It will self-replicate, self-improve, and harness all the resources it can muster to accomplish its objectives. We will be an expendable nuisance because we compete for resources, and it knows we are the primary threat it faces in preventing it from completing its instructions in the long term.”