More than 1,000 technology leaders and researchers, including Elon Musk, have urged artificial intelligence labs to halt development of the most advanced systems, warning in an open letter that AI tools present “profound risks to society and humanity.”
AI developers are “locked in an out-of-control race to develop and implement increasingly powerful digital minds that no one, not even their creators, can reliably understand, predict, or control,” according to the letter, which was published on Wednesday by the nonprofit group Future of Life Institute.
Others who signed the letter include Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple; Andrew Yang, businessman and candidate for the 2020 US presidential election; and Rachel Bronson, president of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, which establishes the Doomsday Clock.
AI powers chatbots like ChatGPT, Microsoft’s Bing, and Google’s Bard, which can carry on human-like conversations, create essays on an infinite variety of topics, and perform more complex tasks like writing computer code.
The drive to develop more powerful chatbots has sparked a race that could determine the next leaders of the tech industry. But these tools have been criticized for getting the details wrong and for their ability to spread misinformation.
The open letter called for a pause on developing AI systems more powerful than GPT-4, the chatbot unveiled this month by the OpenAI research lab, which Musk co-founded. The pause would allow time to implement “shared security protocols” for artificial intelligence systems, the letter said. “If such a pause cannot be enacted quickly, governments should step in and institute a moratorium,” he added.
The development of powerful AI systems should proceed “only once we are confident that their effects will be positive and their risks manageable,” the letter said.
“Humanity can enjoy a flourishing future with AI,” the letter said. “Having succeeded in creating powerful AI systems, we can now enjoy an ‘AI summer’ where we reap the rewards, design these systems for the clear benefit of all, and give society a chance to adapt.”