Elon Musk & Tech Titans Call for Pause on AI Race
Elon Musk has joined the tech titans in calling for a pause in the AI race due to the profound risks to humanity. Tech leaders are urging to wait until the world is certain that “effects will be positive and risks manageable.”
The AI race threatens the safety of mankind
The race of artificial intelligence (AI) is very dangerous and the fate of all mankind is at stake. However, the risks of this danger at the moment do not frighten laboratories, which are actively competing to provide the most powerful AI engines. While any sphere of human activity is now in most cases regulated by special bodies, AI is developed without any requirements, since there is no regulation of the sphere.
Pause the AI race
Some of the biggest names in technology are calling for labs to stop training the most powerful AI systems for at least six months. They point out that a pause should be done until “the effects will be positive and risks manageable.” Elon Musk was among hundreds of technology leaders, professors, and researchers who signed the open letter, which was published by the nonprofit, Future of Life Institute.
The letter says the pause should apply to AI systems more powerful than GPT-4. In doing so, independent experts should use the 6-month pause to jointly develop and implement a set of common protocols for AI tools that are secure. The letter says that if the pause is not introduced soon, it will be necessary for governments to intervene and impose a moratorium.
“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,” the letter said. “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.” “Powerful AI systems should be developed only once we are confident that their effects will be positive and their risks will be manageable,” the authors added.
Elon Musk has been warning humanity about the threat of AI for years
Musk has always said that researchers should be careful with AI developments. In fact, he believes that this threat is the most dangerous for humanity, and the solution to this problem is what constantly worries his mind. To be perfectly clear, the biggest threat here is artificial general intelligence (AGI). In the documentary “Do You Trust This Computer?” by American filmmaker Chris Paine, Musk said that the development of superintelligence by a company or other organization of people could result in a form of AI that governs the world.
“The least scary future I can think of is one where we have at least democratized AI because if one company or small group of people manages to develop godlike digital superintelligence, they could take over the world,” Musk said. “At least when there’s an evil dictator, that human is going to die. But for an AI, there would be no death. It would live forever. And then you’d have an immortal dictator from which we can never escape,” he added.
