AI
‘Mission Impossible 7′ was key to convincing Joe Biden of the dangers of artificial intelligence
The evil AI in Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning′ convinced the President of the United States himself of the dangers of advances in this field.
Life imitates art. Last Monday, The President of the United States Joe Biden, signed an executive order to establish parameters and regulations for the development of new artificial intelligences. And according to one of his cabinet members, Biden finds the issue of AI troubling, especially after seeing AI-generated montages of himself and after watching ‘Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part 1′, the seventh film in the saga starring Tom Cruise.
Author’s Note: To provide context for this story, we describe the beginning of Mission: Impossible - Part 1′, which is considered a spoiler. Be warned!
Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part 1′ was instrumental in convincing Joe Biden of the dangers of AI
In the opening sequence of Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part 1′, we are shown how the Russian submarine Sevastopol uses an advanced artificial intelligence system that tricks its own crew and ends up sinking the vessel. The AI tricks the crew into believing they are facing an enemy that does not exist, and the submarine fires a torpedo that ends up hitting the vehicle back, sinking it and killing its entire crew. Ethan Hunt, Tom Cruise’s character in the Mission: Impossible saga, faces this AI in the film.
According to White House Deputy Chief of Staff Bruce Reed, he and President Biden watched the film during a weekend retreat at Camp David. “If he hadn’t already been concerned about what could go wrong with AI before that movie, he saw plenty more to worry about,” Reed said in remarks reported in Time magazine.
Of course, the Tom Cruise movie was not the only factor that influenced Biden’s decision to sign the executive order. The president-elect was also shown AI-generated images of himself and voice cloning technology, and found both “frightening.” According to the article, “Biden was profoundly curious about the technology in the months of meetings that led up to drafting the order. His science advisory council focused on AI at two meetings and his Cabinet discussed it at two meetings. The president also pressed tech executives and civil society advocates about the technology’s capabilities at multiple gatherings.”
The policies and guidelines in the executive order, signed by Biden at the end of October 2023, will be implemented between 90 and 365 days after the signing, and will prioritize security issues in artificial intelligence systems. There will also be “authentication protocols and watermarking” to properly mark all AI-generated content, protecting citizens from potential fraud resulting from the misuse of artificial intelligence.
While some uses of AI are merely playful and lead to the creation of memes, some celebrities, such as director James Cameron, creator of the “Terminator” franchise, believe that “we will get into the equivalent of a nuclear arms race with AI” and that “the weaponization of AI is the biggest danger.”
When will Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part 2′ in theaters?
‘Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part 2′ is the latest film in the ‘Mission: Impossible’ saga and will be released in summer 2025, according to Variety. The release of the Christopher McQuarrie-directed action movie has been delayed; the original release date was June 28, 2024, but the SAG-AFTRA strike caused a complete halt in production.