Rob Reiner says AI-driven disinformation on social media is more destructive than nuclear weapons

Brett T. | 5:30 PM on July 10, 2023

This editor is Gen X and lived through the Cold War, as well as global cooling, African killer bees, acid rain, the hole in the ozone layer, and so much more. It's fun to look back on all the '80s music videos and movies warning of mutually assured destruction; the threat was so pervasive that we all just stopped caring about it.

Rob Reiner's very much a boomer, and he's afraid of artificial intelligence. Not in the sense that killer robots will become sentient, but in the sense that AI is contributing to disinformation on social media, which is "existentially more destructive than nuclear weapons." Usually, when we hear "existential threat" these days it's connected with climate change alarmism. But disinformation? We thought Reiner would get a kick out of all those AI-generated photos of Donald Trump being dragged into court by New York police officers. (He probably thought they were real.)

Disinformation using AI through social media is insidious and existentially more destructive than nuclear weapons. That’s it. That’s the tweet.
— Rob Reiner (@robreiner) July 10, 2023

Yall just say "existential" now as a buzzword and don't even worry if it fits.
— Boogerbeard (@Boogerbeard1) July 10, 2023

Then you should totally quit tweeting.
— SugarMagnolia (@SugarMAGA) July 10, 2023

I would be tempted to agree, to a sane extent, if I was certain that it wouldn't be screeching leftists like you determining what "disinformation" is.
— Toxic Something Podcast - w/ Keith Burgin (@KeithBurgin) July 10, 2023