In response to Tesla and Twitter CEO Elon Musk, and other tech leaders’ call for a pause to the Artificial Intelligence (AI) race that they called “out of control”, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman spoke at a virtual MIT event and shared his thoughts on the matter. Altman agreed with part of the letter that these leaders wrote, but also noted that this is not the best way to address the issue at hand. He said, “I think moving with caution and an increasing rigor for safety issues is really important. The letter I don’t think was the optimal way to address it. I also agree as capabilities get more and more serious, that the safety bar has got to increase. We are doing other things on top of GPT-4 that I think have all sorts of safety issues that are important to address and were totally left out of the letter.”
The letter came shortly after OpenAI announced GPT-4, an even stronger version of the technology behind the AI chatbot tool, ChatGPT. The call for a pause applies to all AI tools that are more powerful than GPT-4 and suggested that an independent committee should take the time to create shared protocols for AI tools that are safe beyond reasonable doubt. Should this pause not be put in place, then Musk and other tech leaders recommended governments to step in and create a moratorium.
Altman previously expressed his belief that AI technology is going to reshape society, but did mention that it comes with real dangers. He is currently in regular contact with government officials, and is committed to working with them to make sure ChatGPT 4 is rolled out in a safe manner. However, Altman did express his concern that such powerful models may be used for large-scale disinformation and malicious cyberattacks.
Other Artificial intelligence experts have also become concerned with AI tools potential perpetuation of biased responses, its ability to spread misinformation, the potential impact on consumer privacy, and how it could lead to massive job loss through students cheating in exams and other scenarios.
OpenAI is an organization dedicated to leading responsible and long-term research into AI, and is led by Sam Altman, a technology entrepreneur, investor, and programmer. Altman has been involved in a number of successful startups, and is currently a part-time partner at Y Combinator. He is highly committed to research and development in the AI field, and to ensuring that the public is well-informed about the potential risks associated with powerful AI technology.
