Posted by This is another post showing well-known people warning against the uncontrolled development of artificial intelligence. Let me remind you that the discussion on this topic has only been going on for a few weeks, maybe months, when Open AI released an accessible version of its GPT robot called ChatGPT. It was only then that voices were raised that experiments with this technology should be stopped for 6 months, and in the meantime a great debate should be organized on the protection of humanity by artificial intelligence and the rules for using this technology.
One of my favorite authors of books on the subject, Max Tegmark, talks about this. See on YT: Max Tegmark interview: Six months to save humanity from AI? | DW Business Special
The main conclusions of this interview are as follows:
First, intelligence is not just a human trait, but can be a trait of the beings we are able to create. This is something completely new in human history.
Second, we are supposed to share the planet with these beings, yet they will soon be more intelligent than us, if they are not already. And this is dangerous.
Third, the development of artificial intelligence is just like a race to a cliff, the existence of which everyone denies. And yet this race involves large corporations, which do not want to stop at all for fear of their shareholders.
And finally, fourth – this is not a dangerous race, but it is a suicidal race.
I am most convinced by the third conclusion – due to the fact that the race involves publicly traded and profit-driven companies, it cannot be stopped. But, after all, there have already been many such races in the history of mankind – the development of railroads, passenger planes (in which everything could be done at the lowest possible cost, and are the safest means of transportation) or, finally, Internet sales. All of these areas of life are functioning, none of them has engulfed humanity in chaos or destruction.
I know that artificial intelligence is more intelligent than we are, however, as I have written in the past – we are the ones holding the hand on the power switch. And it can’t be otherwise, because this is a physical world, accessible only to humans.
Who is Max Tegmark?
Max Tegmark currently works as a professor of physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The main focus of his research is the physics of intelligence: using physics-based techniques to better understand biological and artificial intelligence (AI). He was one of four scientists (along with Stephen Hawking, Frank Wilczek, and Stuart Russell) who in 2014 issued an appeal to readers of the British newspaper The Independent, warning against downplaying intelligent machines and seeing them only in terms of science fiction. He has received numerous awards for his research, including a Packard Fellowship (2001-2006), a Cottrell Scholar Award (2002-2007) and an NSF Career Grant (2002-2007); he is a fellow of the American Physical Society.