Citing “profound risks to society and humanity,” some of the most prominent technological figures have called for artificial intelligence labs to stop training robust AI systems for the next six months.

The letter was published by the Future of Life Institute, a non-profit backed by Musk, and was signed by dozens of tech leaders, professors, and researchers.

Overview

The letter was released just two weeks after OpenAI released GPT-4, an even more powerful version of the technology that powers the widely used AI chatbot tool ChatGPT. The technology was demonstrated in drafting lawsuits, passing standardized tests, and creating a functional website from a hand-drawn sketch during early tests and a company demonstration.

The letter stated that advanced AI be planned and managed with commensurate care and resources, as they could represent a profound change in the history of life on Earth.

Although AI labs have kept it in an out-of-control race to develop and deploy more powerful minds. So that no one, not even their creators, can understand, predict, or regulate reliably, this level of planning and management is seriously missing.

End Note

At the end of last year, a lot of attention was paid to ChatGPT, which helped revive a race among tech companies to make and use similar AI tools in their products. OpenAI, Microsoft, and Google lead this trend, but IBM, Amazon, Baidu, and Tencent are developing comparable technologies. Many startups are also developing AI writing assistants and image generators.