AI pioneer, George Hinton, has expressed his concerns about the dangers of the fast growth of AI. As reported by Reuters, He stressed that AI might pose more of a threat than unpredictable climate changes.
Hinton, widely known as one of the “godfathers of AI,” argued that the danger posed by AI is unclear. Compared to the problem of climate that can be easily corrected, the threats of the rapidly growing AI technology are not easily identified.
The former Google employee stated that he had resigned from the company to speak freely about these risks. In years past, Hinton made recognizable impacts in the development of AI. However, he is now among the growing number of Tech leaders concerned about AI machines achieving more intelligence than humans.
An Open Letter Against AI
In April, Tesla owner and CEO of Twitter, Elon Musk, and thousand others signed an open letter against the development of AI. The letter called for a six-month pause in developing systems more powerful than OpenAI’s GPT-4.
While Hinton agrees that AI may be full of threats yet discovered, he disagrees with the idea of pausing the development of AI. In his words, “It is unrealistic.” He believes that the threat involved may be as extreme as taking control of the planet. Hinton holds that AI should be considered a threat enough to gain the attention of world Tech leaders.
The open letter signed by Musk and thousands of tech gurus sparked controversy in the Tech world. The researchers whose works were cited condemned its use of their works, and some signatories were called out to be fake. Also, after much controversy, others withdrew their support.
Policies Against AI Development
A committee of lawmakers in the European Union finally responded to the open letter supported by Musk. The committee called on the U.S. president, Joe Biden, to convene a global summit to address the future direction of AI. This approach will be in collaboration with the European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen.
Recently, the committee agreed on a set of landmark proposals that target generative AI. This proposal will force companies like OpenAI to disclose any copyrighted material used to train their models.
Critiques had earlier criticized the open letter to pause AI development. A’ pause’ is believed to change nothing as it doesn’t stop the development from happening undetected. But the outcome of these underway new policies is left to be seen.
Will AI Replace Humans?
Like many other concerned Tech bosses, Hinton worries about the evolution of AI and how it may take over the human world.
Since the launch of ChatGPT, it has gone on to become the fastest-growing app in history, reaching 100 million monthly users in only two months. More than ever, many workers have become concerned about being replaced by artificial intelligence at their workplaces.
After signing the open paper, Musk addressed the reason he did so. He stated that the recent advances in AI present “profound risks to society and humanity.”
Undoubtedly, AI has made great strides in its advancement over the past few months. But whether it will grow to replace humans remain inconclusive.
