Elon Musk and others urge AI pause, citing ‘risks to society’

New Delhi: Elon Musk and a group of artificial intelligence experts and industry executives are calling for a six-month pause in developing systems more powerful than OpenAI’s newly launched GPT-4, in an open letter citing potential risks to society and humanity.

Earlier this month, Microsoft-backed OpenAI unveiled the fourth iteration of its GPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer) AI program, which has wowed users with its vast range of applications, from engaging users in human-like conversation to composing songs and summarising lengthy documents.

Elon Musk has called for a pause on advanced AI development.Credit: Bloomberg

The letter, issued by the non-profit Future of Life Institute and signed by more than 1000 people including Musk, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and Rachel Bronson, president of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, called for a pause on advanced AI development until shared safety protocols for such designs were developed, implemented and audited by independent experts.

The letter asks philosophical questions and requests work be halted until some of them can be answered: “Contemporary AI systems are now becoming human-competitive at general tasks, and we must ask ourselves: Should we let machines flood our information channels with propaganda and untruth? Should we automate away all the jobs, including the fulfilling ones? Should we develop nonhuman minds that might eventually outnumber, outsmart, obsolete and replace us?

“Should we risk loss of control of our civilisation? Such decisions must not be delegated to unelected tech leaders,” the signatories say.

“Powerful AI systems should be developed only once we are confident that their effects will be positive and their risks will be manageable.”

OpenAI representatives didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The letter detailed potential risks to society and civilisation by human-competitive AI systems in the form of economic and political disruptions, and called on developers to work with policymakers on governance and regulatory authorities.

Co-signatories included Stability AI CEO Emad Mostaque, researchers at Alphabet-owned DeepMind, and AI heavyweights Yoshua Bengio, often referred to as one of the “godfathers of AI”, and Stuart Russell, a pioneer of research in the field.

In Sh4dow, the first performing arts production starring an artificial intelligence creature, an actress encounters her virtual self, in an unacknowledged exchange of emotions and data between human and machine. The play is on in Madrid, Spain.Credit: Getty

According to the European Union’s transparency register, the Future of Life Institute is primarily funded by the Musk Foundation, as well as London-based effective altruism group Founders Pledge, and Silicon Valley Community Foundation.

The concerns come as EU police force Europol on Monday joined a chorus of ethical and legal concerns over advanced AI like ChatGPT, warning about the potential misuse of the system in phishing attempts, disinformation and cybercrime.

Meanwhile, the British government unveiled proposals for an “adaptable” regulatory framework around AI.

‘Powerful AI systems should be developed only once we are confident that their effects will be positive and their risks will be manageable.’

Excerpt from the open letter

The government’s approach, outlined in a policy paper published on Wednesday, would split responsibility for governing artificial intelligence between its regulators for human rights, health and safety, and competition, rather than create a new body dedicated to the technology.

Musk, whose carmaker Tesla is using AI for an autopilot system, has been vocal about his concerns about the technology.

Since its release last year, OpenAI’s ChatGPT has prompted rivals to accelerate developing similar large language models, and companies to integrate generative AI models into their products.

Last week, OpenAI announced it had partnered with around a dozen firms to build their services into its chatbot, allowing ChatGPT users to order groceries via Instacart, or book flights through Expedia.

Sam Altman, chief executive at OpenAI hasn’t signed the letter, a spokesperson at Future of Life said.

“The letter isn’t perfect, but the spirit is right: we need to slow down until we better understand the ramifications,” said Gary Marcus, a professor at New York University who signed it. “The big players are becoming increasingly secretive about what they are doing, which makes it hard for society to defend against whatever harms may materialise.”

Critics accused the signatories of promoting “AI hype”, arguing that claims around the technology’s current potential had been greatly exaggerated.

“These kinds of statements are meant to raise hype. It’s meant to get people worried,” Johanna Björklund, an AI researcher and associate professor at Umea University, said. “I don’t think there’s a need to pull the handbrake.”

Rather than pause research, she said, AI researchers should be subjected to greater transparency requirements. “If you do AI research, you should be very transparent about how you do it.”

Reuters

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