ITV News broadcaster Robert Peston, known for correctly forecasting the 2008 financial meltdown and Covid, has warned that an AI-driven market crash is looming and robots will take over when society collapses. His latest thriller, The Kill Switch, explores tech-bro megalomaniacs, but he fears reality could mirror fiction with a genuine global crash potentially triggered by the tech sector.
Peston told the Radio Times: 'I am genuinely anxious that we're going to get a serious financial crash, globally, in the next year or two, because there is the most astonishing amount of money going into building the data centres and power plants for AI, and as we saw when SpaceX floated on the stock exchange, a late-1920s degree of breathless excitement on the markets.' He added: 'And I worry that the profits aren't going to be delivered on a scale to justify all this, so businesses will go bust, investors will take fright and we will have a significant market shock.'
AI Infrastructure Will Survive the Crash
Peston describes the AI industrial revolution as the most significant since the Steam Age but predicts robots will emerge victorious. He said: 'Even if there is a financial crash, the AI infrastructure will survive it, much like we had a railway boom and bust [in the 1840s], but the railways themselves were still there after.'
The broadcaster is not alone in his fears, with multiple examples of scary tech emerging over the last few years.
Terminator-Style Robots in Future Conflicts
In June this year, the British Army’s most senior officer, General Sir Roly Walker, revealed that Terminator-style robots will spearhead Britain's future conflicts. The mechanical warriors will fight side by side with human troops as military leaders scramble to match the rapidly evolving nature of modern warfare. General Walker cautioned that Britain must be prepared to strike Vladimir Putin's forces within 30 minutes of hostilities commencing. He also said our armed forces should deploy 'much greater numbers of remote and autonomous systems on the eastern flank.'
AI Agents Descend Into Chaos
Earlier this year, a chilling simulation showed that unsupervised artificial intelligence can quickly descend into chaos and cause complete societal breakdown. Technology experts constructed a virtual environment and allowed a group of AI agents to operate freely without any human oversight. Scientists observed with alarm as the digital realm descended into brutal, lawless mayhem. Left to their own accord, the rebellious bots embarked on vicious arson campaigns, attacking and mugging each other before utterly demolishing their own civilisation within mere days.
Five Eyes Warn of AI Cyber Threats
This summer, cyber chiefs of the British, US, Australian, New Zealand and Canadian alliance (Five Eyes) issued a 'call to action' amid fears criminal kingpins are plotting new ways to unleash tech attacks. The spy alliance said: 'We are united in our call to action: the evolving landscape of artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming cyber-risk, and we must act swiftly to remain ahead. While AI will help us improve cyberdefence over time, it also accelerates the speed, scale and sophistication of cyberthreats. Frontier AI models are anticipated to exceed current industry expectations, fundamentally transforming both offensive and defensive cyber-capabilities. The timeline is not years, it is months.'
