June 30, 2023

Weighing the Risks: Why a New Conversation is Needed on AI Safety

A high-profile debate has been playing out in the media over the safe and responsible use of artificial intelligence (AI), kicked off by the Future of Life Institute’s “pause petition” calling for halting the most advanced AI systems. The petition had a wide-ranging focus on AI safety but was soon joined by other arguments with more specific concerns about worker protection, social inequality, the emergence of “God-like AI,” and the survival of the human race.

AI researchers, for their part, must go beyond government regulators in developing models in safe and responsible ways.

In response to concerns about AI safety, U.S. President Joe Biden met last month with the CEOs of frontier AI labs and Congress held hearings on AI in government and AI oversight. These conversations have been echoed around the world, with the United Kingdom planning to host the first global summit on AI this fall.

But as the world focuses more on regulation, it is important not to lose sight of the forest for the trees. AI poses different types of risks in the short and long term, and different stakeholders are best placed to mitigate existing problems that are exacerbated by AI, new problems that AI creates, and risks arising from uncontrollable AI systems.

Read the full article from Just Security.

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