Renowned figures in the technology industry, including the leaders of OpenAI and Google Deepmind, have issued a warning about the potential dangers associated with the development of artificial intelligence. The leaders caution that if left unchecked, AI could extinct humanity. In support of these concerns, a statement has been published on the Centre for AI Safety’s website.
The statement calls for global attention to be focused on mitigating the risk of extinction from AI, placing it on a par with other significant societal-scale risks like pandemics and nuclear war. However, some experts have a differing viewpoint and believe that the fears surrounding AI are exaggerated.
“Mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war,” read the statement.
Several specialists cite the rapid advancements observed in technologies such as large language models as a testament to the probable future increase in intelligence. They propose that, upon attaining a particular level of sophistication, it might prove challenging to control the actions of AI systems.
The statement received support from prominent figures in the fields of artificial intelligence, including Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, Demis Hassabis, CEO of Google DeepMind, and Dario Amodei of Anthropic. Dr Geoffrey Hinton, who had previously cautioned about the risks associated with super-intelligent AI, also backed the call. Professor Yoshua Bengio, a computer science professor at the University of Montreal, also affixed his signature.
Respected figures in the AI field, Dr Hinton, Professor Bengio, and NYU Professor Yann LeCunn, who are often referred to as the “godfathers of AI,” jointly won the Turing Award, a high honor recognizing extraordinary contributions in computer science. However, Professor LeCunn, also associated with Meta, expressed his view that the extreme warnings concerning the dangers of AI are overblown.
Some experts also concur that concerns about Artificial Intelligence causing the extinction of humankind are unfounded and shift attention away from the actual challenge of addressing inherent bias in existing systems.
Via Verge