“People Are Feeling Uneasy About AI Advancements
The Future of Life Institute has recently issued a call to action through an open letter, urging all AI laboratories to temporarily halt the training of AI systems surpassing the capabilities of GPT-4, a widely-utilized natural language processing system, for a minimum period of six months. This plea for a moratorium stems from growing concerns over the potential societal and environmental risks posed by advancing AI technologies. Emphasizing the necessity for a more cautious and intentional approach to AI development, the letter highlights the imperative for researchers and industry stakeholders to mitigate unforeseen consequences that could have severe impacts. The aim is to foster responsible AI development and minimize potential harms.
However, it appears unlikely that major AI research organizations will heed this call from the Future of Life Institute. The competitive nature of AI research prompts reluctance to pause development, as falling behind could jeopardize their position in the field. Moreover, the immense potential benefits of AI drive some organizations to prioritize progress over temporary setbacks.
Signed by numerous prominent figures and entities in the AI and tech domains, including renowned researchers like Yoshua Bengio and Stuart Russell, tech leaders such as Elon Musk, and visionaries like Steve Wozniak, the open letter carries weighty endorsement. These influential signatories underscore the urgency of the situation and advocate for responsible and ethical AI development. Their involvement aims to raise awareness of AI-related risks and prompt action from other organizations.
“AI systems with human-competitive intelligence can pose profound risks to society and humanity, as shown by extensive research and acknowledged by top AI labs. As stated in the widely-endorsed Asilomar AI Principles – https://futureoflife.org/open-letter/ai-principles, Advanced AI could represent a profound change in the history of life on Earth, and should be planned for and managed with commensurate care and resources. Unfortunately, this level of planning and management is not happening, even though recent months have seen AI labs locked in an out-of-control race to develop and deploy ever more powerful digital minds that no one – not even their creators – can understand, predict, or reliably control.”
The open letter has garnered support from a multitude of notable individuals, including:
- Yoshua Bengio – Founder and Scientific Director at Mila, Turing Prize winner, and professor at the University of Montreal.
- Stuart Russell – Professor of Computer Science at Berkeley, director of the Center for Intelligent Systems, and co-author of the standard textbook “Artificial Intelligence: a Modern Approach”.
- Elon Musk – CEO of SpaceX, Tesla, and Twitter.
- Steve Wozniak – Co-founder of Apple.
- Emad Mostaque – CEO of Stability AI.
- Max Tegmark – Professor of Physics at MIT, president of Future of Life Institute, affiliated with the MIT Center for Artificial Intelligence & Fundamental Interactions.
- Grady Booch – IBM Fellow, ACM Fellow, IEEE Fellow, and IEEE Computing Pioneer.