Celebrities in the technology industry are opposing the mad race that is taking place for work on the development of artificial intelligence. To companies and institutes dealing with AI, in which the authors express concern about the remarkable progress in the development of this type of systems. They think they can be a threat to us. The letter was published on the website of the Future of Life Institute and was signed by Elon Musk, many artificial intelligence researchers and well-known figures from the world of new technologies, including Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple.
Protest against the development of AI. “A Threat to Society and Humanity”
The authors of the letter at the outset point out that solutions based on the achievements of artificial intelligence are starting to compete with humans and – as numerous studies have shown – may in the future “constitute a serious threat to society and humanity”. As they continue to write, “advanced artificial intelligence can be a fundamental change in the history of life on Earth”, so extreme caution and management of work “with due care” is crucial when working on AI.
The signatories of the appeal believe that laboratories working on AI in recent months have “stuck in an out-of-control race” to develop increasingly “smart” solutions as soon as possible and surprise with the unique capabilities of their systems. It can be presumed that there are to the incredible development of chatbots, such as ChatGPT, which can not only write complex texts and recognize objects in pictures, but even advise on business management or pass medical and legal exams.
Artificial intelligence is getting too “smart”. A break is needed
What’s more – as we read in the letter – soon there may be a situation when we ourselves will no longer understand the operation of highly “intelligent” solutions based on AI and even their creators will not be able to “understand, predict or effectively control” their systems. Among the imminent threats, the authors mention, among others: an inundation of news channels with propaganda that AI will not be able to distinguish from the truth, and too much automation that will make many jobs disappear soon. In the future, this may even mean “the risk of losing control over our civilization” when artificial intelligence becomes smarter than humans and decides to replace us.
The authors of the letter want to suspend the development of systems more powerful than that for at least six months. The break should be voluntary or forced by governments, be “transparent and verifiable” and apply to all laboratories dealing with AI. Its purpose, in turn, is to gain time to develop safeguards and procedures for independent control of the work on artificial intelligence. As we read in the conclusion, “humanity can enjoy a thriving future thanks to artificial intelligence”, but its development should be careful and guided in such a way that societies have a chance to adapt to the presence of AI.
Source: Gazeta
Mabel is a talented author and journalist with a passion for all things technology. As an experienced writer for the 247 News Agency, she has established a reputation for her in-depth reporting and expert analysis on the latest developments in the tech industry.
