A street-interview video in which Robert Ta asks passersby whether AI will kill humanity or take their jobs. An unnamed Speaker B replies that if AI kills us it will be because of human actions and links AI risks to the ongoing "sixth great extinction." Rosalind Shakespeare provides a pragmatic, everyday perspective (jobs are nuanced; advice to eat unprocessed food and stay active). The piece emphasizes capturing everyday public sentiment on AI and situating technological risk within broader environmental and social concerns.
Well, cool. Hey, excuse me, guys. Can I bother you for a sec? Do you think AI is going to kill us all or take our jobs? I don't want to be interviewed.
But you can talk. Or take our jobs. I think that if AI kills us all, it will be because of us.
It'll be because of us.
And taking our jobs is something people have yelled about since another creature has walked the land.
True.
Do I believe that there are so many things that we don't want to do today that are done by machines?
Yeah.
Do I think that AI will do a number of things that we both want and don't want? Depending on the person?
Of course.
It would be stupid to assume otherwise.
So, basically, if it does kill us all, it's all our fault. And number two is jobs have been taken left and right since the dawn of humanity.
Yeah. But what I will add to one is this is the sixth great extinction. Anybody who looks at the statistics, this is it.
The six greatest extinctions. Tell me more about that.
Do you know anything about the five greatest extinctions?
Tell me.
Okay, so you don't know real geological history?
Nope.
Okay, so I'm not gonna try to. I'm not gonna try to give you years of planetary history.
Yeah.
This is this. You understand what an extinction is? Yes. Okay. This is the sixth great extinction. Take a look at how many species we've lost and how large an amount of time. And it's just happening now.
We're in the middle of it, is what you're saying. We're in the middle of the sixth grade extinction.
Yeah.
Okay.
You know, there are various books out on the subject. There are science.
I appreciate you educating.
It's not anything that I am suddenly spouting off myself.
Totally, totally.
Thank you for educating me from the. You know, from the pyroclastic extinction and us burning off every last bit.
Wonder what that bird thinks.
Where's the food?
What am I doing?
What's in the way?
Wait a second. That's what humans need for Maslov's Arc of Needs. Right.
So much of what we think is what's relative to the moment.
Tell me more.
Time. We only perceive it going forward. We must plan for the future. We must prepare with the inertia from the past. The only moment we ever have is now.
Hey, I love that. Let's end that here. Thank you so much. I appreciate you. Have a great day. That was great. I'll have to look into the extinction. I'm glad I got educated. Cool. So I actually, we'll just keep Walking this way. Hey, yo, quick question. Do you think AI is going to kill us all or take our jobs? No, I love it. Positive view of the future. Hell yeah. You think so? Ah, you just canceled it out, but that's all right. Thank you. Gotta take the good with the bad, you know. Excuse me, quick question. Do you think AI is gonna kill us all or take our jobs?
That's a wonderful microphone.
Yeah, it's like my dog thinks it's a toy, unfortunately.
So who is this photo?
He's my camera guy and we're just doing street interviews. I'm trying to solve for existential risk. I think AI poses a lot of existential risk from a climate change perspective, from a. If we have humanoid robots around, will it kill us in our Terminator level stuff? And so that's something I'm worried about. And we hear so many takes from billionaires, but we don't hear takes from regular people. So I'm just going around talking to people, trying to understand how people feel about it. So what do you think? Do you think it's going to take. Take our jobs, kill us all?
I think it's a crazy, crazy world that I've grown old and I came here as an 18 year old, go to the university and I can't believe I'm in the university. Yes.
Wow. Okay.
I put myself through.
Through college.
Yes.
High five. Me too. We have a bond there. That's great. And what's her name? Razzleton. Rosalind Shakespeare. Oh, I love it. I'm Robert. So we're both our names.
I'm meeting you. That's an amazing camera.
Yeah.
I've never seen anything like it.
Yeah, it's cool. So.
So where is this going to be used?
On my socials. So if you want to check us out, we'll put street interviews on socials and I'm just going around asking people, getting a pulse of the people on AI.
And how do I reach you on the.
Yeah, if you have your phone, I could like find me right now and add me.
Well, I don't have a modern phone. I have a dumb phone.
Oh, I could just put the handle on your dumb phone and then when you're at your computer, I could like, you could go look me up. Does that sound good? All right, let's see. All right, I'm not sure. I'm not sure if I can use this. I don't know if I'm smart enough.
I don't think you can.
Text messages. Wait, hang on, I'm getting there. I'm getting there. Send. All right. I'm getting there. Library. What is this? The library? What does that even mean? I guess not.
That is.
Oh, okay. Call me.
Yes.
No, I'm busy. Love you. I miss you. Thank you. All right. Don't know how to use this. This is. We gotta get this out there. Yeah. This is hilarious. No, no, no, let's go to. Oh, I have an idea. Let's go to. Oh, let's go to camera and then I'll take a photo of my social media. Wow, this is an experience. We'll get you there. We'll get you there. Hang on. Really appreciate your time. All right, so I'm going to take a photo of this. Great. I saved it. You have my profile now. You could look this up when you're at home.
Thank you.
Yes. Thank you so much. Any last minute words of wisdom?
Don't eat anything that doesn't. Don't eat food from boxes and cans. Eat foods that you have to peel or slice.
Eat real food.
Eat real food.
Be careful what you put in your body and keep active.
Okay, I love that. That's great advice. Thank you so much. High five. Awesome. Thank you. Have a wonderful day. That was great. I'm an idiot with dumb phones. That's what we learned today. All right, let's keep it rolling. Hey, yo, quick question. Do you think AI is going to kill us all or take our jobs? No. No to both.
I think there are certain professions that.
That AI.
Just question. Complicated.
Complicated.
Yeah.
What's top of mind in the complicated? Question or answer.
It's.
We can do.
Okay. All right. Have a great day. Have a great day. All right. Some people. It's so complicated. It is pretty complicated. It's a nuance of many issues coming together. How do you raise the kids? How do we prevent climate crisis? How do we prevent terminator warfare? How do we prevent mass extinction? It is a complicated issue. It's a complicated issue. Hey, yo, quick question. Do you think AI is going to kill us all? Check our jobs. Well, I don't know.
We'll see.
Huh? We'll see. Okay. Have a good. All right, so I'm thinking we could maybe cross the street and loop back. Sweet.
