Renowned billionaire Elon Musk, along with a panel of experts, has urged for a temporary cessation of the progression of advanced artificial intelligence (AI) technology. The objective behind the move is to ensure that appropriate safety measures are put in place before further development.
A multitude of individuals, among them Elon Musk and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, have affixed their signatures to an open letter after the unveiling of GPT-4 by San Francisco-based OpenAI. The company asserts that its most recent model far exceeds the capabilities of its predecessor, which enabled the ChatGPT bot to produce vast amounts of text from even the most rudimentary of inputs.
The letter titled “Pause Giant AI Experiments” cautioned that AI systems possessing intelligence equal to humans could present serious hazards to society and humanity. It suggested that the development of powerful AI systems should only be pursued once we have established complete confidence in their potential to generate positive impacts and mitigate any associated risks.
Having served as an initial investor and board member of OpenAI, Elon Musk’s company Tesla has also developed AI systems to support its self-driving technology and other applications. A letter addressing concerns over the lack of independent review in OpenAI’s activities was recently hosted by the Future of Life Institute, an organization funded by Musk.
The letter was signed by notable critics and competitors of OpenAI, including Emad Mostaque, CEO of Stability AI. Moreover, the authors of the letter referred to a blog by OpenAI’s founder, Sam Altman, which suggested the need for independent review before training future systems. Agreeing with this sentiment, the authors argued that the appropriate time for such a review is now.
They suggested that if the companies fail to reach an agreement, then governments should intervene and enforce a temporary suspension. This six-month time frame would be utilized to establish safety protocols, implement AI governance systems, and renew research efforts toward enhancing the accuracy and safety of AI systems.
Undeniably, the emergence of Open AI’s ChatGPT in the recent past has propelled the concept of “generative AI” as the next significant progression in the tech industry. In this regard, Microsoft’s swift move to partner with OpenAI to incorporate their advanced GPT-4 model into The New Bing has put pressure on Google to respond with its newly developed Bard AI.
Via Thurrott