Ray Kurzweil, renowned inventor and futurist, recently wrote an opinion letter in response to an open letter from AI researchers to “pause” research on the creation of more powerful language models than GPT-4. In his view, the criteria presented in the letter was too vague to be practical and the coordination problem of agreeing to the pause was too great. He believed that the vital lines of research such as those pertaining to medicine and health, education, renewable energy sources, and other fields would be compromised if the pause were to go into effect. Therefore, Ray Kurzweil did not sign the open letter.
Ray Kurzweil stresses the importance of creating AI in an ethical manner and he is a proponent of the Asilomar AI Principles which aims to do just that. Safety, he said, is of paramount importance and requires more nuance if society is to reap the positive benefits of AI without exposing themselves to real perils. He calls on all AI labs to immediately pause the training of more powerful AI models for at least six months.
Ray Kurzweil is an inventor, author, and futurist known for his work in the areas of cybernetics, computer science, and artificial intelligence. He was one of the original thinkers behind the development of the exponential growth of technology predicted by Moore’s Law, and has developed and promoted numerous technologies and devices. His most popular books include The Age of Intelligent Machines, The Age of Spiritual Machines, and The Singularity is Near. He was also inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 1995.
