AI officials warn of its threat to humanity rivals ‘pandemic and nuclear war’

A group of scientists and CEOs of companies including OpenAI and Google DeepMind have warned of threats to humanity from rapidly evolving technology rivals of nuclear conflict and disease.

“Reducing the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal-level risks such as pandemics and nuclear war,” said a statement published by the Center for AI Safety, a San Francisco-based non-profit organization.

More than 350 AI executives, researchers and engineers were signatories, including Sam Altman of OpenAI, Demis Hassabis of Google DeepMind and Dario Amodei of Anthropic. one sentence statement,

Geoffrey Hinton and Yoshua Bengio, who won the Turing Award for his work on neural networks and are often described as the “godfathers” of AI, also signed the document. Hinton left his position at Google earlier in the month for speaking openly about the potential pitfalls of the technology.

The statement follows calls for regulation across the sector after several AI launches by Big Tech companies raised awareness of its potential flaws, including spreading misinformation, perpetuating social prejudices and replacing workers.

EU lawmakers are pushing Europe’s Artificial Intelligence Act, while the US is also exploring regulation.

Microsoft-backed OpenAI’s ChatGPT, launched in November, is seen as a way to drive wider adoption of artificial intelligence. Altman testified in the US Congress this month for the first time calling for regulation in the form of licensure.

In March, Elon Musk and more than 1,000 other researchers and tech executives called for a six-month pause on the development of advanced AI systems in what they called an “arms race.”

The paper was criticized for its approach, with some researchers citing its reasoning, while others disagreed with the recommended pause on the technology.

With a one-line statement, the Center for AI Safety told the New York Times that it hopes to avoid disinformation.

“We didn’t want to push for a huge menu of 30 possible interventions,” said executive director Dan Hendricks. “When that happens, it dilutes the message.”

Kevin Scott, Microsoft’s chief technology officer, and Eric Horwitz, its chief scientific officer, also signed the statement on Tuesday, as did DeepMind’s former co-founder Mustafa Suleiman, who now runs the start-up Inflection AI. .

A group of scientists and CEOs of companies including OpenAI and Google DeepMind have warned of threats to humanity from rapidly evolving technology rivals of nuclear conflict and disease.

“Reducing the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal-level risks such as pandemics and nuclear war,” said a statement published by the Center for AI Safety, a San Francisco-based non-profit organization.

More than 350 AI executives, researchers and engineers were signatories, including Sam Altman of OpenAI, Demis Hassabis of Google DeepMind and Dario Amodei of Anthropic. one sentence statement,

Geoffrey Hinton and Yoshua Bengio, who won the Turing Award for his work on neural networks and are often described as the “godfathers” of AI, also signed the document. Hinton left his position at Google earlier in the month for speaking openly about the potential pitfalls of the technology.

The statement follows calls for regulation across the sector after several AI launches by Big Tech companies raised awareness of its potential flaws, including spreading misinformation, perpetuating social prejudices and replacing workers.

EU lawmakers are pushing Europe’s Artificial Intelligence Act, while the US is also exploring regulation.

Microsoft-backed OpenAI’s ChatGPT, launched in November, is seen as a way to drive wider adoption of artificial intelligence. Altman testified in the US Congress this month for the first time calling for regulation in the form of licensure.

In March, Elon Musk and more than 1,000 other researchers and tech executives called for a six-month pause on the development of advanced AI systems in what they called an “arms race.”

The paper was criticized for its approach, with some researchers citing its reasoning, while others disagreed with the recommended pause on the technology.

With a one-line statement, the Center for AI Safety told the New York Times that it hopes to avoid disinformation.

“We didn’t want to push for a huge menu of 30 possible interventions,” said executive director Dan Hendricks. “When that happens, it dilutes the message.”

Kevin Scott, Microsoft’s chief technology officer, and Eric Horwitz, its chief scientific officer, also signed the statement on Tuesday, as did DeepMind’s former co-founder Mustafa Suleiman, who now runs the start-up Inflection AI. .