To the editor:

AI, friend or foe? Probably both, but I tend to lean more toward foe. I just read in the 4 June issue of AAAS ‘Science’ that there is now a narrowing window for being able to understand AI’s inner workings because:

1. AI systems are now designed and refined by AI through recursive cycles that out pace human understanding.

2. AI to AI interactions are highly connected and complex and becoming increasingly hard for humans to interpret.

3. AI is building increasingly detailed models of human behavior and psychology. So as our understanding of AI ‘decreases’, AI’s understanding of humans ‘increases’. Eventually, humans may lose interest in guiding AI, resulting in a situation where our goals and judgment become culturally shaped by AI.

Will engineers eventually get a handle on this runaway intelligence? Maybe, maybe not. An article in the 10-14-2025 ‘The Telegraph’ entitled; “Western executives who visit China are coming back terrified”, stated China is heavily into AI. China now leads the world in advanced robotics, especially in manufacturing. I.E. A 900 yard long assembly line producing trucks without humans on the line. Human-less ‘Dark Factories’ cranking out mega-piles of mobile phones.

After his visit, the CEO of Ford summed it up: “We are in global competition with China, and its not just EVs. And if we lose this, we do not have a future at Ford.” China’s ‘Xinhua’ reported they built a 16,000 passenger per hour railway station with 1.22 million square meters of floor area. Concrete was laid by laser guided, 4 wheeled screed robots utilizing LiDAR, AI and 5G with millimeter precision. The job was done three times faster than what humans can do. Using a ‘robot army’ the project was completed in 2025 after just 38 months.

Phil Drietz,

Delhi