- Experts Call for 6 Months Pause
Arising from fears of what Artificial Intelligence can turn the world to if not handled properly in a controlled manner, an open letter was written recently and circulated to put the world on the alert.
The letter, drafted by the Future of Life Institute, a nonprofit group dedicated to “steering transformative technologies away from extreme, large-scale risks and towards benefiting life”, was issued last week and is calling on the artificial intelligence industry to take a six-month pause for the development of safety protocols regarding the technology.
Signed by big technology gurus like Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, Tesla Inc. and Twitter, as well as Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, many tech leaders, professors, researchers and other prominent high-tech experts and industry leaders, the letter had, when it was released, been signed by nearly 1,400 people in the industry who should know what they are talking about.
The open letter said the pause should apply to AI systems “more powerful than GPT-4.” It also said independent experts should use the proposed pause to jointly develop and implement a set of shared protocols for AI tools that are safe “beyond a reasonable doubt.”
The letter comes just two weeks after OpenAI announced GPT-4, an even more powerful version of the technology that underpins the viral AI chatbot tool, ChatGPT and the group did not hide the fact that the introduction of GPT-4, developed by San Francisco-based company, OpenAI, is a standard for concern.
No doubt GPT-4 has scared people with what it can be used for way ahead of what humans and current AI are capable of, but lots of ignorant people have been applauding AI developments, without reference to the negatives, and it is not just in human resources and job replacement, which was the fear when computers were first introduced and the current initiative pushes that the recent developments portends “profound risks to society and humanity”. Robots will basically take over almost everything human, and as is already the case in many areas, like banking, engineering, medicine and even broadcasting where the newscasters you may have seen online are not real people and voices can be designed and manipulated to sound in whatever way you want.
GPT stands for Generative Pre-trained Transformer, a type of language model that uses deep learning to generate human-like conversational text and OpenAI says GPT-4 is more accurate and human-like and has the ability to analyze and respond to images.
But the open letter even went ahead to note the rapidly developing capabilities of AI technology and how it has surpassed human performance in many areas, with the example of how AI used to create new drug treatments could easily be used to create deadly pathogens. And GPT-4 shows this direction. The group maintains that such powerful AI systems like this should be developed “only once we are confident that their effects will be positive and their risks will be manageable.”
According to the letter: “Advanced AI could represent a profound change in the history of life on Earth, and should be planned for and managed with commensurate care and resources. Unfortunately, this level of planning and management is not happening, even though 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.”
Noting the potential a programme such as GPT-4 could have to create disinformation and propaganda, the letter calls on “all AI labs to immediately pause for at least 6 months the training of AI systems more powerful than GPT-4.” AI labs and independent experts should also use the pause “to jointly develop and implement a set of shared safety protocols for advanced AI design and development that will ensure they are safe beyond a reasonable doubt.
Apart from the open letter, other groups are insisting on full suspension of deployment of new AI systems pending further investigation, while insisting that the technical description of the GPT-4 system provided by its own makers describes almost a dozen major risks posed by its use, including disinformation and influence operations, proliferation of conventional and unconventional weapons, and cybersecurity, overturn professions, enable students to cheat, and shift human relationship with technology.
When GPT-4 was unveiled, it stunned many users in early tests and a company demo with its ability to draft lawsuits, pass standardized exams and build a working website from a hand-drawn sketch.
From initial tests, GPT-4 has the potential to analyzing more than text, and has ability to work with photos that users upload. GPT-4 can also come up with a meal based on the ingredients from a photo of the interior of a refrigerator shown to it.
The question is will the AI laboratories immediately pause for at least 6 months the training of AI systems more powerful than GPT-4 so that everyone can take a breath and decide how to go? In a world of competitiveness and business decisions based on the bottom line, it is doubtful if the competing groups and companies will listen to the rational voices. While the big companies may listen, the smaller developers may just continue their businesses unhindered.
QUOTING FROM THE FUTURE OF LIFE OPEN LETTER:
“AI systems with human-competitive intelligence can pose profound risks to society and humanity, as shown by extensive research and acknowledged by top AI labs. As stated in the widely-endorsed Asilomar AI Principles, Advanced AI could represent a profound change in the history of life on Earth, and should be planned for and managed with commensurate care and resources. Unfortunately, this level of planning and management is not happening, even though 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.
“Contemporary AI systems are now becoming human-competitive at general tasks, and we must ask ourselves: Should we let machines flood our information channels with propaganda and untruth? Should we automate away all the jobs, including the fulfilling ones? Should we develop nonhuman minds that might eventually outnumber, outsmart, obsolete and replace us? Should we risk loss of control of our civilization? Such decisions must not be delegated to unelected tech leaders. Powerful AI systems should be developed only once we are confident that their effects will be positive and their risks will be manageable. This confidence must be well justified and increase with the magnitude of a system’s potential effects………
“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. This pause should be public and verifiable, and include all key actors. If such a pause cannot be enacted quickly, governments should step in and institute a moratorium. AI labs and independent experts should use this 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. This does not mean a pause on AI development in general, merely a stepping back from the dangerous race to ever-larger unpredictable black-box models with emergent capabilities. AI research and development should be refocused on making today’s powerful, state-of-the-art systems more accurate, safe, interpretable, transparent, robust, aligned, trustworthy, and loyal.”
WE AGREE WITH THEM!
Hmmmmm,Man is already creating it’s own extinction.
The untold calamities that shall be unleashed as a result of these machines can only be imagined. We are indeed in the end time and the Bible prophecies are being fulfill right before our very eyes. Rapture of the saints(believers in Jesus Christ) is the door. Repent and receive Jesus before it is too late.
These are interesting times. If I were to speak the language of the 12th-15th centuries, I would simply say witchcraft is being normalized before our very eyes in the guise of AI. But I hope with time, these audacious technologies will make some sense to laymen like me and not hasten man’s self-destructive tendencies and proclivities.