August 14, 2023
How to Prevent an AI Catastrophe
Society Must Get Ready for Very Powerful Artificial Intelligence
In April 2023, a group of academics at Carnegie Mellon University set out to test the chemistry powers of artificial intelligence. To do so, they connected an AI system to a hypothetical laboratory. Then they asked it to produce various substances. With just two words of guidance—“synthesize ibuprofen”—the chemists got the system to identify the steps necessary for laboratory machines to manufacture the painkiller. The AI, as it turned out, knew both the recipe for ibuprofen and how to produce it.
How dangerous is AI? The honest and scary answer is that no one knows.
Unfortunately, the researchers quickly discovered that their AI tool would synthesize chemicals far more dangerous than Advil. The program was happy to craft instruction to produce a World War I–era chemical weapon and a common date-rape drug. It almost agreed to synthesize sarin, the notoriously lethal nerve gas, until it Googled the compound’s dark history. The researchers found this safeguard to be cold comfort. “The search function,” they wrote, “can be easily manipulated by altering the terminology.” AI, the chemists concluded, can make devastating weapons.
Read the full article from Foreign Affairs.
More from CNAS
-
‘We Want Peace’: How Attacks Between Israel and Iran Could Impact People in NC
Video
Retired Lt. Gen. Jack Shanahan is an adjunct senior fellow at the Center for New American Security. Shanahan provided some context on how the two Middle East countries got her...
By Lt. Gen. Jack Shanahan
-
Countering AI Chip Smuggling Has Become a National Security Priority
Reports
Based on the available evidence, artificial intelligence (AI) chip smuggling has likely been occurring at a scale that significantly undermines U.S. attempts to restrict the P...
By Erich Grunewald & Tim Fist
-
How the United States Can Win the Global Tech Race
Commentary
Despite powerful advantages, U.S. success is far from assured....
By Vivek Chilukuri
-
Untangling Ukraine’s “Operation Spiderweb”
Podcast
In this episode, Paul Saunders speaks with Samuel Bendett, an adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security. Bendett's previous experience includes working f...
By Samuel Bendett
