Elon Musk, Wozniak, Others Push Labs to 'Pause' Training of AI Systems
Does the race to develop more powerful AI like ChatGPT pose a risk to human civilization? A group of tech entrepreneurs and scientists, including Elon Musk and Steve Wozniak, think so.
Musk and Wozniak have publicly signed an open letter(Opens in a new window), urging the tech industry to hit the brakes on AI development, citing the disruptive consequences the technology could have on society.
“Powerful AI systems should be developed only once we are confident that their effects will be positive and their risks will be manageable,” says the letter, which was also signed by Pinterest co-founder Evan Sharp, former US Presidential candidate Andrew Wang, and acclaimed writer Yuval Noah Harari.
The letter calls for AI labs “to immediately pause for at least 6 months the training of AI systems more powerful than GPT-4,” OpenAI’s latest large language model can generate human-like responses and complete tasks, such as article writing and computer coding, in seconds.
GPT-4 already powers OpenAI’s ChatGPT, a program that’s taken the world by storm for its ability to streamline and even automate some forms of white collar work. However, it's also raised concerns that existing and future AI programs will shake up society by taking jobs away from humans, and making it easy for bad actors to pump out disinformation on the internet.
The open letter says it’s time for society to weigh and rein in the potential consequences before plunging further into the AI race. “Should we let machines flood our information channels with propaganda and untruth? Should we automate away all the jobs, including the fulfilling ones?” the letter asks. “Should we risk loss of control of our civilization? Such decisions must not be delegated to
Read more on pcmag.com
