Elon Musk and Others Urge AI Pause, Citing ‘Risks to Society’

Elon Musk and over 1,000 experts in artificial intelligence (AI) and industry executives are calling for a six-month pause in developing AI systems more powerful than OpenAI’s recently launched GPT-4. They issued an open letter through the non-profit Future of Life Institute, citing potential risks to society and humanity.

The letter called for a pause on advanced AI development until shared safety protocols were developed, implemented, and audited by independent experts. Co-signatories included researchers at Alphabet-owned DeepMind, AI heavyweights Yoshua Bengio and Stuart Russell, and Stability AI CEO Emad Mostaque. The Future of Life Institute is primarily funded by the Musk Foundation, as well as London-based effective altruism group Founders Pledge and Silicon Valley Community Foundation.

The letter detailed potential risks to society and civilization by human-competitive AI systems in the form of economic and political disruptions, and called on developers to work with policymakers on governance and regulatory authorities. Meanwhile, concerns over the potential misuse of advanced AI like ChatGPT have been raised, with EU police force Europol warning about phishing attempts, disinformation, and cybercrime.

Source: Public Radio of Armenia