No doubt you have seen the news about 1,000 luminaries allegedly signing a letter calling for a halt on AI development for 6 months. I say “allegedly” because to my knowledge, no-one has seen the actual letter yet. (If you have, send me a copy.) A digital format is online, (see the references below). I did hear a news report that one person who has allegedly signed the letter has come out and strenuously denied any involvement. Unfortunately I am unable to find a link to this denial at present. This creates further possible doubt around the credibility of such letter.
The main reason being touted for the call on development suspension is to pause and reflect on the impact of AI on humanity. The question is being asked what dark and sinister means could AI be put to that could have a nasty effect on us.
Well, the truth of it is that ethical and morally responsible players wouldn’t be going down this path anyway, certainly not intentionally. But, more importantly is the reality that unethical and immoral players in the area are not going to stop development because of a letter. (Think rogue nation states and dark web players.)
So, in all seriousness this may be a call for more responsible ethics and development. Perhaps a call for lawmakers to consider some constraints, but as we all know with technology, lawmakers are a generation behind anything that is happening.
By all means, let’s have the discussion, but for me, let the development continue openly so any malintent can be called out in a naming and shaming manner.
I would love to hear your thoughts on this in the comments. What are your concerns about AI? What do you look forward to with AI?
References:
Pause Giant AI Experiments: An Open Letter – Future of Life Institute
A copy of the letter with details of some signatories. Claims to have 50,000 signatures but only around 2,700 confirmed at top of page. The site has names listed, but no visible signatures.
1,100+ notable signatories just signed an open letter asking ‘all AI labs to immediately pause for at least 6 months’ | TechCrunch
Story on Techcrunch with links to other sites.
The Massive Name in AI Noticeably Absent From Pause Letter Signed by Musk (newsweek.com)
Sam Altman from Open AI hasn’t signed according to this article.
Ethicists fire back at ‘AI Pause’ letter they say ‘ignores the actual harms’ (yahoo.com)
An alternative view from AI Ethicists
