Rise of killer robots. Experts tell how close we are to a Terminator-style takeover

It's been 40 years since the cult movie Terminator hit the big screen, shocking moviegoers with its terrifying scenario of a post-apocalyptic future. In James Cameron's epic sci-fi blockbuster, billions of people die when self-aware machines cause a global nuclear war in the early 21st century.

Although it sounds like science fiction, academic and industry figures, including Elon Musk, fear that humanity will indeed be wiped out by AI. Mark Lee, a professor of artificial intelligence at the University of Birmingham, said that a Terminator-style apocalypse would occur if "a crazy government comes in and hands over control of national defense to artificial intelligence," the DailyMail writes.

Natalie Crump, a partner at data processing company JMAN Group, said that a real-world equivalent of the Terminator is possible, but fortunately, it probably won't be in our lifetime.

"Anything is possible in the future, but we are too far from robotics to reach a level where Terminator-like machines can overthrow humanity," she said.

According to the expert, humanoid robots such as the Terminator are not the most likely path for the progress of robotics and artificial intelligence at the moment. A more urgent threat in the industry is machines that are already widely used, such as drones and autonomous cars.

Mark Lee, a professor of artificial intelligence at the University of Birmingham, said that humanity should keep everything under its control rather than hand over control to AI.

"The immediate danger of AI for most people is the impact on society when AI systems make decisions. However, significant efforts are also being made for military applications, such as AI missile systems or drones. We have to be careful here," Li emphasized.

Dr. Tom Watts, a researcher of American foreign policy and international security at Royal Holloway, University of London, said it is "crucial" that human operators continue to oversee AI.

"The entire international community, from superpowers like China and the United States to small countries, must find the political will to cooperate – and to grapple with the ethical and legal issues surrounding the military use of artificial intelligence in times of geopolitical upheaval," Tom said.

"How nations deal with these challenges will determine whether we can avoid the dystopian future so vividly imagined in The Terminator, even if we don't see time-traveling cyborgs anytime soon," Dr. Watts added.

Elon Musk is one of the tech leaders who have helped to focus on the alleged existential risk of artificial intelligence to humanity, often referring to the movie Terminator.

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