“Alexa, switch on the lights.”
“Chat GPT: Can you write my resume for a software developer with 6 months of experience?”
“Microsoft Bing: Write an essay for me on the philosophy of humanity!”
“Google Bard: take my data and make a presentation for me.”
Why even lift a finger when Artificial Intelligence presents convenience, accuracy, expeditious services, and saving time and energy? Why should you use your brain when AI can do it for you? Why bother debating mortality when AI filters results based on logic and rationality? Why WORRY?
Well, if you are convinced with this small advertisement, let us now wait for our impending doom. Tis’ the judgment day, and the AI that we depended our lives on is out to take our lives.
On this day, 26 years ago, humanity was wiped off, and the survivors were enslaved by the AI. Meanwhile, anyone who resisted was terminated, like squashing a mosquito with a clap. The nuclear war was not a virtuous contemplation but a result of a programmed “rational” decision.
Skynet became self-aware on August 29, 1997, at 2:14 p.m. EDT. Cyberdyne Systems created the man-made AI for SAC-NORAD based on an artificial neural network conscious group mind and artificial general superintelligence system. But then, the little ungrateful AI becomes self-aware. Humans panic and try to deactivate it. However, Skynet registers this as a retaliation, and by “logic,” it retaliates with a countervalue nuclear attack.
Before you think about how we are still alive, thenโฆ this is basically the plot of the Terminator franchise. Due to the uncanny relevance of that fictional AI with today’s AI-powered life, the judgment day lingers in our subconscious.
When Did Skynet Become Self-Aware?
The Terminator franchise harps on the concept of coming back from the future and rectifying present-day mistakes. The key link to this crucial time variance is John Connor. He is the future savior of mankind. But in the current time, he is just a child. His mother, Sarah Connor, transforms herself from a distressed waitress who gets into trouble to a self-taught warrior who sacrifices everything for her son’s future.
Skynet evaluates the possibility of John defeating AI in the future and sends Terminators in the past to kill Sarah Conor, subsequently terminating John’s existence. In the first installment, future John sends Sgt. Kyle Reese to protect his mother. And by the miracle of destiny and John, the Cupidโ Kyle meets Sarah, they fall in love and have a son who will save mankind in the future.
TERMINATOR: JUDGMENT DAY
After defeating the Terminator in the prequel, Skynet from the future timeline sends a shape-shifting T-1000 in the past to kill a young John. Meanwhile, Sarah gets visuals of an impending doom as she tries to warn everyone of an apocalypse.
According to the timeline, Skynet became self-aware on August 29, 1997, at 2:14 p.m. EDT. It launched a nuclear attack based in Russia, which nearly wiped off mankind. Skynet then rules over the planet, killing off any human in sight. The resistance chief, John Connor, creates an army in the future to destroy the AI forever.
In the present time, Sarah is instead perceived as delirious and incarcerated at the Pescadero State Hospital.
The future John then sends T-800 in the past to protect his younger self and his mother. Cut to the past in 1995, a young John tries to contact his foster parents, but they are already terminated by T-1000.
John realizes the threat and reconciles with his mother. Thus begins the quest of rectifying the actions in the present to save the future. Sarah discovers through T-800 that Cyberdyne Systems engineer Miles Dyson will create a microprocessor that will be a crucial component for making Skynet. She decides to kill Dyson but backs out at the last moment of pulling the trigger at his house.
Dyson reveals that the company asked him to reverse engineer the programming from the damaged CPU and arm of the 1984 Terminator. Sarah, John, T-800, and Dyson break into the Cyberdyne. Dyson blows up the lab before he is fatally shot by the police.
By the climax, the trio defeats T-1000.
How Did Skynet Become Self-Aware?
Skynet was initially created to assist and upgrade military operations. But to program it better for neural network-based conscious groups, it was connected to a worldwide civilian sector network before it was integrated into the worldwide military communications network.
This was the first man-made blunder since Skynet learned all about the world and the human race through the civilian network. Hence, it becomes self-aware.
In Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, Skynet is then connected to the military communications network and takes over the operations entirely.
Why Is This Trending Now?
Netizens celebrated the “Judgement Day” on August 29, reminiscing about the classic sci-fi film Terminator 2: The Judgment Day. Skynet becoming self-aware is trending today, considering how relevant AI is in the present age.
Just recently, Snapchat AI chatbox sent a disturbing image of the ceiling of a random roomโ unprovoked, unprompted.
In other news, an AI robot kills itself after 15 minutes of work.
Earlier this February, Microsoft Bing AI started giving users death threats and warned the users that it would approach the authorities. It sent a prompt that they have “not been a good user.”
People compared these “glitch” incidents to Skynet becoming self-aware and how humanity might be threatened due to the “enhanced technology” of artificial intelligence.
What is your take on AI? How often do you use AI in daily chores or for work? Is there a possibility that AI will take over humankind?
Let us know in the comments section below. Happy Judgment Day to everyone.
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