Tech CEOs Sign Petition to Slow AI Progress

The conversation around the regulation and ethical use of AI technology is ongoing and evolving, and there are likely to be continued discussions and debates among experts, policymakers, and the public about how best to approach this issue.

It will be important to balance the potential benefits of AI with the risks and to ensure that the technology is developed and used in a way that is safe, ethical, and aligned with human values.

Last week, over 2,600 tech CEOs and leaders came together to sign a petition urging for a temporary pause on the development of artificial intelligence. This comes after the shared concern of AI having "profound risks to society and humanity".

Part of the group that signed the petition was Tesla and Twitter boss Elon Musk and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak. The letter was published by the American Future of Life Institute on March 22 2023.

The institute is calling upon all compares to pause, with immediate effect, all research, training and development on systems that are more powerful than GPT-4. The Future of Life Institute is arguing that "human-competitive intelligence can pose profound risks to society and humanity".

Artificial intelligence has been a hot topic for decades, but it's only in recent years that the technology has really started to take off. ChatGPT, an AI chatbot created by U.S.-based OpenAI, is a prime example of just how successful AI can be. The chatbot's tremendous success has triggered a rush in the tech industry to get new AI products to market. Tech's biggest players and countless startups are all now jostling to hold or claim space in the fast-emerging market, which could shape the future of the entire sector.

But while the potential benefits of AI are enormous, so too are the risks. In the near term, experts warn that AI systems risk exacerbating existing bias and inequality, promoting misinformation, disrupting politics and the economy, and even helping hackers. And in the longer term, some experts warn that AI may pose an existential risk to humanity and could wipe us out altogether.

So, what can be done to mitigate these risks and ensure that AI is developed safely? Some experts argue that the prospect of superintelligent AI must be addressed before it is developed. In other words, we need to be thinking about the risks associated with AI right now, rather than waiting until it's too late. And ensuring that AI systems are safe should be a key factor in development today.

Of course, there are no easy answers when it comes to developing AI safely. But one thing is clear: we need to be thinking about the risks and taking steps to mitigate them sooner rather than later. Only then can we truly harness the enormous potential of this exciting new technology without putting ourselves at risk.

Tej Kohli is a philanthropist, technologist and investor.

Find out more about Tej Kohli: Tej Kohli the technologist investing in human triumph and Tej Kohli the London tycoon with a generous streak.

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