What the AI revolt in the ‘Dune’ universe warns us about today

Don’t worry, there are no plot spoilers for Dune: Part Two ahead.

As was the case with the previous installment of Dune in 2021, Dune: Part Two showcases no modern technology. There are no phones or computers, no robots, no autopilot in aircraft, and no AI—which differs from what viewers see in other science fiction films, including those in the Star Wars franchise. The absence of technology in the Dune universe stems from an event 10,000 years before the first movie takes place, in which humanity waged war against the AI they created and subsequently outlawed it.

The book, written by an astute (or perhaps prophetic) Frank Herbert in the 1960s, states at one point, “Technology is both a tool for helping humans and for destroying them.” In another passage that directly references AI, Herbert wrote: “Once men turned their thinking over to machines in the hope that this would set them free. But that only permitted other men with machines to enslave them.”

The message is especially potent as companies continue to make headway on AI models intended to revolutionize how humans live and work. OpenAI recently teased its video generation tool that arguably takes text-to-video models to another level, even if it still has some kinks to work out. The potential to deceive and confuse people with the realistic videos is huge, and it’s causing fear among some, as Sage Lazzaro previously covered in Fortune’s Eye on AI newsletter. Google last month temporarily shut down its Gemini image generation tool after it produced racially biased photos. And the threat of AI manipulating U.S. election information is growing, following the circulation of fake images depicting Donald Trump with Black supporters. 

Herbert’s 60-year-old warning doesn’t sound too far off from the concerns raised about AI today. On the other end of the spectrum is someone like Marc Andreessen, the venture capitalist and self-described techno-optimist who last year published a 5,200-word manifesto dismissing concerns about the technology and calling for uninhibited innovation. In the post, he declared social responsibility, safety, sustainability, and ethics as the “enemy,” adding that humans are meant to innovate.

“We are not primitives, cowering in fear of the lightning bolt,” he wrote. “We are the apex predator; the lightning works for us.”

For our sake, let’s aim for something mid-way between Herbert’s post-tech revolution state and Andreessen’s imagined tech-powered paradise. 

With that, here’s the biggest tech news today. And here’s to more Dune, less doom.

Rachyl Jones

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NEWSWORTHY

Chip IPO. Intel-backed semiconductor company Astera Labs is seeking a valuation of up to $4.51 billion and plans to raise as much as $534 million in a U.S. initial public offering, Reuters reported. Continued excitement around artificial intelligence and the chips required to run the technology is driving the news. 

China’s AI funding. China is working to raise more than $27 billion from local and state groups to invest in chips and counter the U.S.’s attempt to contain the industry, Bloomberg reported. The amount would represent the largest chip fund to date in the country. 

Tyson v. Paul. Netflix will host a boxing match on July 20 between former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson and YouTube-star-turned-professional-boxer Jake Paul, who starred in a Netflix episode of Untold last year, Variety reported. The event marks Netflix’s third venture into live sports as it practices its hand in live television. 

ON OUR FEED

"If you get rid of TikTok, Facebook and Zuckerschmuck will double their business. I don't want Facebook, who cheated in the last Election, doing better.”

—Former President and current presidential candidate Donald Trump wrote on his social media site Truth Social, Axios reported. The message marks a reversal of Trump’s stance on TikTok—which he tried to ban while he was president—as some members of Congress push for legislation that would force China-based parent company ByteDance to divest the property. In the post, Trump didn’t provide evidence for his claim that Facebook “cheated” in the last election.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Amazon will no longer underwrite loans for sellers in its $140 billion Marketplace business, by Jason Del Rey

Tesla rival Rivian unveils R2 and shares a few surprises—including a way it’ll save a much-needed $2.25 billion, by Edward Ludlow and Bloomberg 

U.S. chipmaking gear helped make the advanced processor in Huawei’s new premium smartphone, by Cagan Koc, MacKenzie Hawkins, and Bloomberg 

Fake images of Donald Trump with Black supporters highlight worries about how AI will be used in 2024 election, by Matt Brown, David Klepper, and the Associated Press

Australia is showing us what happens when Tesla-beating BYD faces no tariffs and is free to grow, by Steve Mollman

Elon Musk quietly takes down post calling MacKenzie Scott a threat to civilization for giving billions away to social justice causes, by Christiaan Hetzner 

BEFORE YOU GO

A continued attack on Microsoft. Earlier this year, Microsoft alleged that a Russian state-sponsored hacking group called Midnight Blizzard infiltrated its systems to spy on emails from members of senior leadership. On Friday, it revealed that the attack is ongoing and includes the theft of source code, the Verge reported. Midnight Blizzard has also reportedly increased the volume of some of its attack measures, including trying to access multiple accounts with the same password, by as much as 10 times in February from its already high frequency in January. 

“This reflects what has become more broadly an unprecedented global threat landscape, especially in terms of sophisticated nation-state attacks,” Microsoft said in a statement. Consumer-facing systems have not been compromised, according to the company.