September 13, 2023
To Avoid AI Catastrophes, We Must Think Smaller
Early last year, researchers demonstrated the capacity of an artificial intelligence (AI) drug discovery tool called MegaSyn to generate thousands of novel chemical weapons in a matter of hours. While conversations about AI safety measures proliferate, including a White House-mediated effort at voluntary regulation and an upcoming UK AI summit, systems like MegaSyn remain unchecked in a regulatory conversation that is increasingly focused on long-term, theoretical risks, at the cost of addressing the harms that AI already poses to society.
These incidents are not theoretical, nor are they projections of long-term dangers; rather, these AI tools are already presenting tangible threats to individual health and well-being.
Amid the furor caused by large language models (LLMs) like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, members of Congress, policy researchers and tech companies have proposed regulations that are designed to curb some of the greatest dangers presented by highly capable “frontier AI.” Famed computer scientists and contributors to the AI revolution have come forward to warn of emerging extinction risks. To be sure, this technology presents long-term and far-reaching threats to society, but these calls for regulation fall short at addressing some of the most acute dangers.
Read the full article from The Messenger.
More from CNAS
-
Defense & Aerospace Air Power Podcast: Global View
Podcast
In a week when airpower news came from every angle, Becca Wasser, CNAS adjunct senior fellow, was on top of it all. She leads defense research at Bloomberg Economics, and we c...
By Becca Wasser
-
Balance of Power: Powell Probe Sparks GOP Backlash
Podcast
President Donald Trump faced rare opposition from key Republican lawmakers after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell accused the Department of Justice of launching a grand jur...
By Becca Wasser
-
The Venezuela Blockade
Commentary
Roxanna Vigil, Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellow, talks about President Donald Trump's order to blockade sanctioned oil tankers in Venezuela, and the r...
By Becca Wasser
-
The Astronomical Cost of Defeating ‘Any Foreign Aerial Attack’
Video
Building Trump’s proposed missile and air defense system would be an enormous task — and the president’s spending target is likely just a fraction of the final price. CNAS adj...
By Becca Wasser
