How Rogue AI Could Act Like an Invasive Species

In the 19th century, the British introduced rabbits to New Zealand, hoping to harvest them for meat and fur. Lacking natural predators, rabbit numbers exploded, threatening New Zealand’s economy, which was heavily reliant on the export of wool. The rabbits were eating crops that farmers were growing for their sheep, and their burrows were eroding the soil in fields. So, starting in 1882, the colonial government released around 8,000 stoats and weasels into New Zealand, believing that these predators would bring rabbit numbers down. 

But New Zealand’s ground-nesting bird species—like the kiwi, which had not evolved any fear of these foreign predators—were far easier prey for stoats and weasels. Some 40% of New Zealand’s native bird life has gone extinct since. The New Zealand government spends $25 million a year trying to eradicate invasive predators, but this effort has so far been largely unsuccessful for one key reason: the predators can breed. Only 8,000 stoats and weasels were ever released, but they self-replicated exponentially. Millions of their offspring became endemic in the environment, making the task of undoing their introduction far more burdensome than the task of releasing them in the first place.