Tech giants call for halt to AI development

Big names in the tech world joined together in an open letter calling for a halt to the development of artificial intelligence. Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla; Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple; and Yoshua Bengio, 2018 Turing Award winner, are among the more than 1,000 signatories to this public letter addressed to the big AI labs.

The signatories to this letter are specifically calling for a six-month pause to give laboratories time to establish new protocols and ethical principles related to governing the development and use of AI, all under the supervision of neutral observers. According to the open letter, the race between different laboratories to develop ever more advanced artificial intelligences may lead to serious consequences for society. The letter condemns the current development of the laboratories, which could end up in a product that could quickly spin out of control beyond the understanding of its own creators.

"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 and managed with appropriate care and resources."

The signatories even requested that, in the event that this pause is not respected, governments should intervene to enforce the temporary suspension of AI progress. The measure would affect AI systems that are more powerful than GPT-4. They also recommend creating an institution to regulate and control AIs, with government collaboration. The major AI development firms have not yet responded to this proposal.

Should we let the machines flood our information channels with propaganda and falsehoods? Should we automate all jobs, including the most rewarding ones? Should we develop non-human minds that will eventually outnumber, out-intelligence, out-obsolescence and out-replace us? Should we risk losing control of our civilization? These decisions should not be delegated to unelected technology leaders.

The development of AI is of particular concern to the labor market. Several studies warn about the impact of artificial intelligence on numerous jobs. According to the University of Pennsylvania, 80% of jobs will see 10% of their regular tasks affected by the use of AI. The percentage goes up to 100% in positions such as mathematicians, journalists, accountants and secretaries. Another study by McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) claims that AI would wipe out around 15% of global employment. In the worst-case scenario, MGI estimates that up to 30% of jobs would disappear.

Sam Altman, CEO of Open AI, was interviewed by science writer Lex Fridman, in which he explained further. "I want to be clear: I think these systems will make a lot of jobs disappear, as with all technological revolutions," Altman said on Fridman's podcast. Altman stressed that this is something he is concerned about, but did not elaborate on what Open AI could do to dampen this effect. Altman expects that AIs will also create new jobs, while others disappear.