Just as millions of people have begun to use artificial intelligence systems like ChatGPT, an array of prominent scientists and tech leaders say it’s time to hit the brakes.
Tesla founder Elon Musk, Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak, and former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang, along with researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University, and Northeastern University are among more than a thousand people who have signed a petition calling for a six-month “pause” in further development of AI systems such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT and its more advanced version, GPT-4.
“Recent months have seen AI labs 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,” said the petition published by the Future of Life Institute, a nonprofit foundation that researches the social impacts of technology.
“Powerful AI systems should be developed only once we are confident that their effects will be positive and their risks will be manageable,” the statement continued. “Therefore, we call on all AI labs to immediately pause for at least 6 months the training of AI systems more powerful than GPT-4.”
The petition calls for AI researchers to use the six-month 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. These protocols should ensure that systems adhering to them are safe beyond a reasonable doubt.”
The group cites new research released last week by scientists at Microsoft, who claim that “GPT-4′s performance is strikingly close to human-level performance” in mathematics, software coding, image recognition, medicine, law, and psychology. The Microsoft report suggests that GPT-4 may be approaching “artificial general intelligence,” the ability of a machine to reason more broadly in a fashion indistinguishable from a human being.
Recent Comments