Elon Musk and other Tech Leaders are asking for a pause on the race of AI.
Several prominent figures in the technology industry are urging artificial intelligence labs to halt the training of the most advanced AI systems for a minimum of six months, citing significant dangers to humanity and society.
The Future of Life Institute has published a letter signed by a number of tech industry leaders, professors, and researchers, including Elon Musk.
The letter was released a mere two weeks following OpenAI's announcement of GPT-4, which is an even more advanced iteration of the underlying technology used in the popular AI chatbot tool, ChatGPT. During initial testing and a company demonstration, the technology displayed capabilities such as drafting legal documents, passing standardized exams, and constructing a functional website from a simple hand-drawn sketch.
According to the letter, the suspension of AI system training should specifically apply to systems that are "more powerful than GPT-4." The letter also called for independent experts to use the proposed pause to collaborate and devise a standardized set of protocols for AI tools that are proven to be safe "beyond a reasonable doubt.
The letter emphasized that if a pause on AI system training is not implemented in the near future, governments should intervene.
ChatGPT gained significant attention in late 2022, which spurred a new arms race among tech companies to create and integrate comparable AI tools into their products. Notable players in this trend include OpenAI, Microsoft, and Google, but other major companies like IBM, Amazon, Baidu, and Tencent are also working on similar technologies. In addition, numerous startups are developing AI writing assistants and image generators.
As AI tools become more prevalent, experts in the field have become increasingly worried about their potential for biased responses, spreading misinformation, and infringing on consumer privacy. Additionally, there are concerns about how AI may disrupt certain professions, enable cheating among students, and fundamentally alter our relationship with technology.