Elon Musk is one of over 1,000 industry leaders asking for a halt to AI development owing to the “profound risks to society and humanity” it poses.
The open letter, released by the non-profit Future of Life Institute, expresses significant worry regarding “AI systems with human-competitive intelligence,” according to The New York Times. The letter warns that development into advanced AI systems has accelerated at an exponential rate in recent years and that developers on these projects are “locked in an out-of-control race to develop and deploy ever more powerful digital minds that no one—not even their creators—can understand, predict or reliably control.”
Former presidential candidate Andrew Yang, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, and Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists president Rachel Bronson are among those who have signed the open letter. AI has already presented a significant threat to several job sectors in the United States, and there is concern about how it may affect art and music. Significantly, the letter was not signed by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
“Should we let machines flood our information channels with propaganda and untruth?” reads the letter. “Should we automate away all the jobs, including the fulfilling ones? Should we develop nonhuman minds that might eventually outnumber, outsmart, obsolete and replace us? Should we risk loss of control of our civilization? Such decisions must not be delegated to unelected tech leaders. Powerful AI systems should be developed only once we are confident that their effects will be positive and their risks will be manageable.”
The letter requests that all systems “more powerful than GPT-4,” the OpenAI-developed chatbot launched earlier this month, be put on hold. “This pause should be public and verifiable, and include all key actors,” reads the letter. “If such a pause cannot be enacted quickly, governments should step in and institute a moratorium. AI labs and independent experts should use this pause to jointly develop and implement a set of shared safety protocols for advanced AI design and development that are rigorously audited and overseen by independent outside experts.”
Google, Adobe, and Microsoft have all constantly added new AI functionality to their products. At least a few engineers from Google and Microsoft have signed the letter. “Humanity can enjoy a flourishing future with AI,” the letter ends. “Society has hit pause on other technologies with potentially catastrophic effects on society. We can do so here. Let’s enjoy a long AI summer, not rush unprepared into a fall.”