A rise on super-smart home appliances could soon start ‘plotting’ against us, with boffins warning hackers could soon get access to personal information via fridges
Fridges could lead a robot takeover of the world.
Almost all UK homes have a refrigerator, with an estimated 40m fridges and freezers in the UK. Experts, however, reckon that as home tech gets “smarter” – with domestic appliances being hooked up to the internet and our phones – they could soon start “plotting” to overthrow us.
Some fridges have cameras which allows them to “monitor” what’s inside them, and order more food and drink to stock up automatically. Worries, however, have been raised that internet-connected fridges could be targeted by hackers – and that they could “talk” to other devices through Wi-Fi.
Boffins say hackers could login into fridges, accessing the email and bank accounts of owners, or even take control of cameras to monitor human activity or communicate with other “smart devices” like TVs or virtual assistants like Alexa.
If the devices start “speaking” to each other, scientists reckon they could plot our downfall by wreaking havoc with our online lives – targeting bank accounts, email, and online shopping. Speaking recently, Natalie Cramp, partner at data firm JMAN Group, said that a “Terminator-style” takeover – where humanoid robots take over – said it was “everyday objects” which were in danger of ‘going rogue’.
She said: “Anything is possible in the future, but we are a long way from robotics getting to the level where Terminator-like machines have the capacity to overthrow humanity. If we’re speculating on what type of AI-devices could go rogue and harm us, it’s likely to be everyday objects.”
She said that self-driving cars and drones were among the “most likely” AI tech to malfunction, saying it was devices “already in use” – like virtual assistants and connected domestic devices – that posed the greatest danger.
In the 1984 move Terminator, robots have taken over the world by 2029. Arnold Schwarzenegger plays a cyborg assassin, who was sent back in time from 2029 to 1984 to kill Sarah Connor, played by Linda Hamilton.
Boffins, however, reckon it will be 2048 before robots outnumber humans. Dr Ian Pearson, a fellow of the British Computer Society and the Royal Society of Arts and Commerce, said that humans will be “in the minority” by then.
He said that if the market for robot technology grows even faster than expected – as it is now with Elon Musk at the forefront – we could even see a “robot takeover” by 2035. He reckons that by 2048 there will be a robot population of 10bn worldwide and a human population of just under 9bn.
The renowned scientist said that robots and AI could start becoming ‘emotionally intelligent’ by 2028, adding: “By 2048 robots will overtake humans. If we allow for likely market acceleration, that could happen even earlier. By 2028, some of those robots will already be starting to feel genuine emotions and to respond to us emotionally.”
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By staronline@reachplc.com (Stian Alexander)
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