Top executives and experts in artificial intelligence have expressed concerns about the risk of extinction posed by AI, urging policymakers to prioritize it alongside pandemics and nuclear war.
30-5-2023 (STOCKHOLM) A group of prominent artificial intelligence executives, including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, joined experts and professors on Tuesday in raising the alarm about the “risk of extinction from AI.” They called on policymakers to consider this risk on par with the threats posed by pandemics and nuclear war.
In a letter published by the nonprofit Center for AI Safety (CAIS), more than 350 signatories emphasized the importance of mitigating the risk of AI-related extinction as a global priority. The signatories included CEOs from AI firms DeepMind and Anthropic, as well as executives from Microsoft and Google. Notable figures such as Geoffrey Hinton and Yoshua Bengio, known as the “godfathers of AI” for their groundbreaking work on deep learning, also endorsed the letter. Professors from esteemed institutions like Harvard University and Tsinghua University in China were among the signatories.
However, the letter singled out Meta, the company where the third “godfather of AI,” Yann LeCun, works, for not signing the letter.
The publication of the letter coincided with the U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council meeting in Sweden, where policymakers are expected to discuss the regulation of AI.
This call for action follows Elon Musk and a group of AI experts and industry executives who raised concerns about potential risks to society back in April.
Advancements in AI technology have led to the development of powerful tools that can be applied in various fields, including medical diagnostics and legal analysis. However, these advancements have also sparked fears regarding privacy breaches, misinformation campaigns, and the potential for “smart machines” to think autonomously.
Geoffrey Hinton, one of the pioneers of AI, recently told Reuters that AI could pose a “more urgent” threat to humanity than climate change.
Last week, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman initially criticized the EU’s efforts to regulate AI, referring to it as over-regulation and threatening to withdraw from Europe. However, Altman reversed his stance within days following criticism from politicians.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is scheduled to meet with Sam Altman on Thursday to discuss these concerns.
