Leading experts warn against underestimating the risks of artificial intelligence. They rate the dangers of AI as high as with pandemics or nuclear war.
The experts’ statement on risks posed by artificial intelligence (AI) includes only one sentence, but it sounds quite dramatic: “Reducing the risk of annihilation by AI should be a global priority alongside other risks of societal proportions, such as pandemics and nuclear war. ”
The statement was signed, among others, by the head of ChatGPT inventor OpenAI, Sam Altman. The chatbot ChatGPT, which can formulate sentences at human level, had triggered a new hype about artificial intelligence in the past few months. Other signatories to the appeal are Demis Hassabis, head of Google sister company DeepMind, which specializes in AI, and Geoffrey Hinton, one of the leading researchers in the field.
The AI experts’ statement was published on the website of a non-profit organization. A number of possible dangers posed by AI are pointed out there, for example their use in warfare or through the development of new chemical weapons. The San Francisco-based Center for AI Safety also warns of the spread of misinformation through technology and a future in which humanity could become completely dependent on machines.
Not the first warning about AI
A few weeks ago, another organization published an open letter signed by tech billionaire Elon Musk, among others, proposing a six-month break in the development of artificial intelligence. The aim of the break should be to find regulatory approaches for the technology. It was later revealed that Musk had just founded his own AI company.