Over 1,000 experts and executives signed a letter warning that artificial intelligence (AI) poses potential risks to human society.
The letter calls for a six-month pause in the development of the most advanced AI to provide time for safety protocols to be established.
The letter, issued by the non-profit Future of Life Institute, called for a pause in the development of AI tools more powerful than OpenAI's GPT-4.
- It describes possible risks to society and civilization posed by economic and political disruptions generated by AI systems that compete with humans.
- Signatories include Elon Musk, researchers at AI laboratory DeepMind, and computer scientists Yoshua Bengio and Stuart Russel.
- Sam Altman, CEO of ChatGPT developer OpenAI, did not sign the letter, according to a Future of Life spokesperson.
Zoom Out:
- Microsoft-backed OpenAI opened ChatGPT to the public on November 30, 2022, and released a major update on March 13.
- A report by Goldman Sachs estimates that generative AI like ChatGPT has the potential to affect 300 million full-time jobs in the U.S. and Europe.
- The Future of Life Institute receives most of its funding from the Musk foundation.
