Prominent people in the AI industry, Yann LeCun, the Chief AI Scientist of Meta, and Andrew Ng, the founder of Deeplearning.AI, argued against a proposed six-month pause on the training of advanced AI systems. In an online discussion on Friday, they raised serious concerns that a moratorium of this kind could cause harm to research and development and hamper progress in the field.
LeCun and Ng acknowledged the potential harms and risks posed by increasingly advanced AI systems, such as ChatGPT, LLaMa, Midjourney, Stable Diffusion, and Dall-E. From possible economic displacement to the emergence of artificial general intelligence (AGI) with its possible malicious or unintended consequences, the experts discussed these issues and expressed the need for regulation and collaboration between researchers, governments, and corporations.
Nevertheless, they insisted that an AI suspension was unrealistic and should be avoided. Instead, they proposed the development of new ideas for better controlling such AI systems and for transparency in their use.
In their discussion, Ng and LeCun invoked their experience and knowledge to explain why the 6-month pause was not ideal. They mentioned that AI has seen remarkable progress in the past few years and that new applications, such as responsive coaching, can be developed using it. Therefore, they argued, pausing the research and development of AI might be counter-productive, hampering valuable progress that could be made in the field.
In relation to the open letter, Ng and LeCun found that the motivations of the signatories varied and that it was difficult to fully understand their concerns on a single issue. In conclusion, they further illustrated the advantages of AI and encouraged its growth but also agreed that regulation was needed and that collaboration was essential.
The discussion gained attention worldwide, particularly as it was held amidst a growing debate over how to regulate ever more powerful AI systems. Efforts to do so are expected to increase, as evidenced by a forthcoming conference in San Francisco—on July 11 and 12—that will focus on integrating and optimizing AI investments for success.
Managed by Meta, Yann LeCun’s company offers an AI platform to help businesses unlock the transformational power of AI. Meta has partnered with several industry leaders, including Google, Databricks, and AI Platforms, to provide an ecosystem of powerful data and ML capabilities.
Andrew Ng is the founder of Deeplearning.AI, a company dedicated to making deep learning more accessible to developers, engineers, researchers, and students. He is also the co-founder of Coursera and is known for his groundbreaking work in artificial intelligence and machine learning. Ng’s driving mission is to make AI accessible to as many people as possible and to bring about a future where everyone can benefit from AI.
