Here’s one for all those people out there skeptical we are all being sold smoke and mirrors where artificial intelligence (AI) is concerned. Software billionaire Dan O’Dowd, the world’s leading authority on software that never fails and can’t be hacked, has launched a public awareness campaign revealing critical defects in AI.
O’Dowd, whose company Green Hills Software ensures the safety and security of crucial systems across all areas of society, has gone so far as to publish full-page ads in the Wall Street Journal and New York Times warning of these key faults. O’Dowd has also formed an AI-focused campaign known as The Dawn Project, which for the past two years has focused on raising public, political and regulatory awareness of the critical safety defects in Tesla’s self-driving AI software.
The Dawn Project is not the only entity worried about the race to put AI into everything. Rolling Stone’s Miles Klee tested one of Elon Musk’s (at right showing his Neuralink brain implant) cars owned by O’Dowd a few years back. He said earlier this month he never felt safe in the vehicle. His exact words were:
“The tech in Elon Musk’s electric vehicles is supposed to prevent accidents, but in several cases, it nearly caused one.”
Earlier this year, Toys ‘R’ Us released an AI commercial Dominic Carter of The Poke said gives people nightmares. According to Carter, OpenAI’s new video generation tool, Sora uses AI to create what many consider freaky videos to lure parents/kids to buy toys. One commenter on the video creation tool saying it is an insult to try and sell toys. The “X” user also pointed out that playing with toys is a key function of early childhood development. Another user said, “These videos are the opposite of joyful.” Carter’s best point is at the end of the story, where he points out the AI-ification of the media in general. As publishers and journalists, our team at Argophilia is keenly attuned to this since AI articles are flooding the content market. Daniel Schmachtenberger, co-founder of the Civilization Research Institute, warns that at the current trajectory of AI, humanity is headed towards ecological destruction rather than restoration.
Returning to The Dawn Project’s adverts, these are their latest efforts to ensure that the software deployed in our safety-critical infrastructure is held to the highest possible standards and cannot be hacked. O’Dowd is campaigning to raise awareness surrounding the danger of a cataclysmic cyberattack resulting from the use of easily hacked, bug-ridden commercial-grade software in safety-critical applications, such as water systems and the power grid. The Dawn Project Youtube video below should at least set off alarm buzzers for regulators and potential Tesla buyers.
O’Dowd’s has been developing secure operating systems for four decades, some of which are used in nuclear bombers, NASA spacecraft and fighter jets. The Dawn Project calls on the US government to apply the software security standards demanded for nuclear systems to critical infrastructure. Most readers will understand (even from Hollywood) how a cyberattack that disabled US critical infrastructure would cripple the country and cause millions of casualties.
The group’s ads also criticize Silicon Valley for squandering billions of dollars on woefully defective and supposedly intelligent systems. The Dawn Project slams Big Tech for adding trillions to their market caps by hoodwinking investors and shareholders with promises of revolutionary AI systems.
The full-page ads examine whether Silicon Valley’s attempt to develop defective artificial intelligence systems should be characterized as “The Magnificent Scam by the Magnificent Seven”, which stands for Alphabet (GOOGL; GOOG), Amazon (AMZN), Apple (AAPL), Meta Platforms (META), Microsoft (MSFT), NVIDIA (NVDA), and Tesla. O’Doud says these companies have created a frenzy for marketing sparkling new artificial “intelligence” systems to consumers.
So far, big tech has not responded to O’Dowd’s concerns.
