More than 1,500 people have signed an open letter warning of the loss of freedom, dignity and the “potential extinction of humanity.”
Canadian artificial intelligence (AI) pioneers Geoffrey Hinton and Yoshua Bengio have signed up to another open letterthis time advocating a ban on the development of “superintelligence.”
“We … need to make sure that the public has a much stronger say in the decisions that will shape our collective future.”
Bengio and Hinton long expressed concerns about the dangers posed by artificial general intelligence (AGI), a hypothetical future scenario in which AI achieves human-level intelligence in many domains. “Superintelligence” means a step beyond AGI, when AI surpasses human-level intelligence, which is a feat of many technology companies like Meta are chasing.
Open letter organized by Future of Life InstituteAs of this writing, more than 1,500 people have signed, including other computer scientists, politicians, religious leaders, and artists.
“[M]All leading artificial intelligence companies have the stated goal of creating a superintelligence within the next decade that can significantly outperform all humans at virtually every cognitive task,” the letter reads. “This has raised concerns ranging from economic obsolescence and human disenfranchisement, loss of freedom, civil liberties, dignity and control to national security risks and even the potential extinction of humanity.”
The signatories call for the development of superintelligence to be banned until there is “broad scientific consensus” that it can be done safely and in a controlled manner, and “strong public support.”
Bengio started a non-profit organization earlier this yearLawZero, for creating guardrails for agent-based artificial intelligence systems. Many of its participants, as well as members of the Institute for Artificial Intelligence founded by Bengio Milaalso signed the letter.
“To safely advance toward superintelligence, we must scientifically determine how to create artificial intelligence systems that are fundamentally incapable of harming humans, whether through misconfiguration or malicious use,” Bengio wrote in his caption. “We also need to make sure that the public has a much stronger say in the decisions that will shape our collective future.”
In addition to Hinton and Bengio, dozens of Canadians signed the call to action, including former Canadian Heritage Minister Pascal St. Onge, Mila president and CEO Valerie Pisano and musician Grimes.
The open letter brings together a unique circle of supporters, including American right-wing commentators Steve Bannon and Glenn Beck, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and billionaire Virgin founder Richard Branson. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, also joined actors Stephen Fry and Joseph Gordon-Levitt in signing the letter.
Hinton, winner Nobel Prize for his pioneering work in artificial intelligence systems, joined Bengio in calling for restrictions on the development of artificial intelligence in recent years. The duo has signed some open letters warning about the dangers of uncontrolled AI development. In his Nobel Prize speech, Hinton condemned tech companies chasing “short-term profits” and called for “urgent and decisive attention” to combating AI security risks.
Image courtesy of LawZero via LinkedIn.
