Leaders Warn of Dangers Associated with AI Development
A group of prominent leaders from the AI industry has issued a warning about the risks associated with artificial intelligence. The short statement has been signed by hundreds of researchers and personalities, calling for global focus on addressing the dangers of AI. The warning was published by a “Center for AI Safety” and urges for the risks of AI to be addressed with the same priority as other societal risks, such as pandemics and nuclear war.
The signatories of the warning include the managing directors of OpenAI, Google’s Deepmind, and Anthropic, among others. Notably, renowned AI researcher Geoffrey Hinton has added his name to the list. Hinton recently quit his job at Google in order to issue such warnings.
While the statement is vague in specifics, it is part of a growing number of similar warnings. The list is headed by Hinton and Yoshua Bengio, both of whom received the Turing Award in 2019. The group wants to make it clear that the risks of AI are being taken seriously and initiate a broad debate on the subject.
The risks associated with AI development are varied, and some have warned about its potential impact on the labor market. AI technology could make jobs redundant, and AI generators could produce disinformation more easily. Some have even raised concerns about the potential emergence of artificial general intelligence, which could be more dangerous than humans.
Despite the warnings from industry leaders, there remains a lack of clarity about which risks the signatories are referring to. The statement intentionally remains brief and vague to allow as many people as possible to sign, according to the New York Times.
OpenAI boss Sam Altman has previously warned about the risks of AI and has even promoted regulation. However, he has criticized European plans for precisely such rules and threatened to withdraw from Europe. Altman has now signed the short statement, along with many others from the industry.
