Hit the Pause Button!

 After studying the issue at some depth, I’ve come to agree with leading researchers in artificial intelligence (A!) that taking a six-month pause in the further development of this life-altering technology is the right thing to do.

As they state in their open letter, “Powerful AI systems should be developed only once we are confident that their effects will be positive and their risks will be manageable.”

We cannot be confident of that at present.

One of the most persuasive cases I’ve seen for this pause is a lecture by UC Berkeley’s Stuart Russell, who explains in depth what we know and don’t know yet about this technology and why it would be premature to just proceed blindly before evaluating the potential consequences.

While AI may be capable of helping us achieve great things, like ending poverty globally and resisting climate change, we also could inadvertently destroy all human life on the planet.

A six-month pause will not be enough time to get all the answers we need to achieve the former while avoiding the latter, but it might at least help us better frame the questions. Some serious government regulation will be needed here — think of the nuclear power industry — and at the moment AI is essentially unregulated.

We’re at a critical juncture in the debate over how to proceed. The experts are right. We need to catch our collective breath, develop a complex regulatory scheme, and educate ourselves as to how this technology can enhance — not destroy — our humanity.

Thanks to John Jameson for pointing me to Russell’s lecture. Links below.

• How Not To Destroy the World With AI — Stuart Russell lecture (UC Berkeley)

• Open Letter From Technologists With Plea To Pause AI Training (EMS Now)

Here are some of my previous posts related to this topic:

• The Meaning of Life 2.0 (Or at least of work)

• Data Times

• Some Non-Geeks, Please

• To Be or Not To Be -- Obsolete

• Human Intelligence

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