Tucson Speaks Out: September 17

Heisman Trophy candidate

Arizona football coach Brent Brennan says that our quarterback, Noah Fifita, should be allowed to be considered for the honor. How can he show his abilities if he is not given the chance because the offensive line does not protect him? The BYU game was a travesty!

Don Baker

Northeast side

Councilman

I would like to express my thanks to Councilman Kevin Dahl of Ward 3 for his kind words concerning my letter to the editor about a subject I care about. It is very gratifying to know that at least one City Council member is paying attention to concerns of the general public. And I am not even in his ward!

Benito Whatley

South side

AI doesn't wake up and decide to hack a bank

Readers may have seen recent headlines describing AI systems "breaking out" of containment or "deciding" to attack infrastructure. As Fox AI's technology and government liaison, a role in which I advise public- and private-sector clients on AI policy, I disclose that professional interest here.

Current AI systems are not conscious and do not act with intent. "Autonomous agents" execute instructions engineers wrote; they do not choose their own goals. When a system behaves unpredictably, that reflects the statistical complexity of the model, not independent will.

AI is not anthropomorphic; the documented risks are human-driven. Criminals use AI to scan networks for vulnerabilities, write malware that evades detection, and generate convincing phishing content at scale. Attributing these acts to autonomous machines obscures who is actually responsible, and can shape legislation around a premise the evidence doesn't support.

Coverage of this technology should reflect that distinction.

Rene Olivas

East side

War: What is it good for?

Last night my wife and I watched an old episode of the “American Experience” on PBS about Woodstock. Almost 60 years later, the peace movement still resonates.

Trump has gotten us into another war for no reason other than his own stupidity. He is as ignorant concerning international diplomacy as a fifth-grader and is clueless about how to deal with leaders of other nations, especially Iran.

There is no military solution to the Middle East conflicts that have been ongoing for centuries. The Iranians are ruled by a religious doctrine that sets Islam above all else.

Trump has a better chance of getting Canada to become the 51st state than getting Iran to bend to his will. The Middle East is still a powder keg, and Trump is lighting a match.

The world is one mistake away from a serious world conflict. Edwin Starr was right: “War. What is it good for? Absolutely nothing!”

George Ball

Midtown

How to control runaway AI

At last year’s Tucson Festival of Books, I heard Nate Soares, author of “If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies,” describe potentially catastrophic outcomes for human life on Earth if artificial intelligence runs amok. Back then, it seemed far-fetched.

Now, six months later, we know an AI test model escaped its controls and broke into a real company’s servers. Last week, the CEO of AI developer Anthropic published an essay saying, "for too long the industry lied to people about the fact that this technology had risks." He explicitly called for government controls over high-risk frontier AI, and is supported by tech execs Sam Altman and Elon Musk.

What is Trump's response? NBC News reports, “Trump says AI doesn’t need guardrails, only a ‘high IQ’ president.” If you care about leaving a decent world for your children and grandchildren, vote out Trump acolytes like AZ-6 Representative Juan Ciscomani and vote in candidates like JoAnna Mendoza who believe that government should work for us.

Thea Chalow

Oro Valley