David Byrne Believes AI Is “Not Going to End Well”

David Byrne has never been one to shy away from the unfamiliar, but artificial intelligence is one technological frontier he isn’t particularly optimistic about. In a new interview with i-D Magazine, the Talking Heads frontman offered a rather ominous prediction about the future of AI by suggesting that it’s leading us in the wrong direction. However, he still acknowledged that the technology can be beneficial if used for the right things. “I like to think that certain aspects of AI can be used as a handy tool,” he said. “If you’re analyzing spreadsheets and you want to see a pattern, AI might be good at that. I’ve read that it’s good for, like, skin doctors discovering the beginning of a melanoma, that the AI can pick it out sometimes better than a doctor can. If it’s trustworthy as a tool, that seems useful.” Despite the AI’s potential, Byrne is convinced it’s ultimately going to be of detriment to us. “I’ve heard of students using it to write their papers, and then they end up with no knowledge of the thing they just wrote about,” he said. “And I think, ‘Oh, it’s going to make people really stupid.'” He continued, “Of course, there’s all the stuff we read about it breaking out o...