Can AI Go Out of Control?

Key vocabulary

• inteligenciaf.

  engineer

  “La inteligencia artificial cambia el mundo.”— A young engineer worked at OpenAI.

  Pattern inteligencia artificial artificial intelligence

  Compare mente f. intelligence

  Plural inteligencia

  💡 From Latin intelligentia, cognate with English intelligence

• expertom./adj.

  dangerous

  “Los expertos estudian el problema.”— He says he saw dangerous things.

  Pattern comité de expertos expert committee

  Compare especialista m./f. expert

  Plural expertos; feminine experta

  💡 Cognate with English expert; note that x in Spanish is pronounced /ks/

• peligrom.

  expert

  “La IA puede ser un peligro.”— Many experts don't believe AI will kill us soon.

  Pattern sin peligro without danger

  Compare riesgo m. risk

  Plural peligros

  💡 From Latin periculum, cognate with English peril (danger)

• perderv.

  report

  “No queremos perder el control.”— In July they published a report.

  Pattern perder el control to lose control

  Compare extraviar v. to lose

  yo pierdo, tú pierdes, él pierde (e→ie)

  💡 e→ie stem-changing verb, like querer, pensar

• consecuenciaf.

  to advance, progress

  “Tiene consecuencias graves.”— AI advances faster than our ability.

  Pattern como consecuencia as a consequence

  Compare resultado m. result

  Plural consecuencias

  💡 From Latin consequentia, cognate with English consequence

• transparenteadj.

  ability, capacity

  “Las empresas no son transparentes.”— AI advances faster than our ability to control it.

  Pattern ser transparente to be transparent

  Compare claro adj. clear

  Singular unchanged, plural transparentes

  💡 trans- (through) + parente (appear), light can pass through

• autónomoadj.

  to monitor, supervise

  “Los sistemas son cada vez más autónomos.”— The more capable they are, the harder they are to monitor.

  Pattern sistema autónomo autonomous system

  Compare independiente adj. independent

  Feminine autónoma, plural autónomos

  💡 auto- (self) + nomos (law), self-governing

• engañarv.

  guarantee

  “La IA puede engañar a los humanos.”— There are no scientific guarantees that they won't disobey instructions.

  Pattern engañar a alguien to deceive someone

  Compare mentir v. to lie

  yo engaño, tú engañas, él engaña

  💡 Same root as engaño (deception); note the pronunciation of ñ

• evaluarv.

  to disobey, fail to comply

  “Quieren evaluar estos sistemas.”— There are no guarantees that they won't disobey instructions.

  Pattern evaluar el riesgo to assess the risk

  Compare valorar v. to evaluate

  yo evalúo, tú evalúas, él evalúa (u→ú)

  💡 From French évaluer; note that an accent mark is added when the stress falls on u

• marcom.

  “Piden un marco internacional.”

  Pattern marco internacional international framework

  Compare estructura f. structure

  Plural marcos

  💡 Originally meaning 'picture frame', extended to mean 'framework, scope'

Grammar spotlight

Sentence patterns to steal

• La IA podría matarnos a todos antes de que acabe la década.

  AI could kill us all before the decade is over.

  podría + infinitive + antes de que + subjunctiveYou can replace podría with another verb, and change the subject and verb after antes de que.

• Cuanto más capaces son, más difícil es vigilarlos.

  The more capable they are, the harder they are to monitor.

  Cuanto más + adj./adv., más + adj./adv. + es + infinitiveYou can replace capaces with another adjective, and vigilarlos with another verb.

• No hay garantías científicas de que no vayan a incumplir las instrucciones.

  There are no scientific guarantees that they won't disobey instructions.

  No hay garantías de que + subjunctiveYou can replace garantías with another noun, and incumplir with another verb.