STOPPING AI?

You may have seen the recent media announcement by the big techie super starts?

This seems like a responsible, if not cautious concept, but is it really so?

Open letter calls for a pause on Artificial Intelligence - AI development

A group of high-profile signatories, including Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, are asking companies to pump the brakes on "giant AI experiments" until there's confidence that any risks are manageable and the effects are largely positive. A letter published by the nonprofit Future of Life Institute on Wednesday states that large-scale AI projects "can pose profound risks to society and humanity” if not properly managed. The signatories, which also include well-known AI researchers, want a six-month pause on anything more powerful than GPT-4, adding that the race to develop machine learning is outpacing necessary guardrails. 

I have been keeping current with robotics and autonomous developments which naturally rely and are based upon artificial intelligence. There are tremendous efficiencies in using this technology and of course we recognise the many issues from job loss and resulting social unrest. Do we push forward with a universal guaranteed income to compensate and what impact will this have on our economy and societies?

The question is how to pause AI? Is it even possible?

Both the USA & China are the leading AI super powers. China would see a halt by the West as a great opportunity to gain from this scenario.

In the USA there are basic freedoms and this would have to be contested in the Supreme Court. That type of review and judgement takes time, often years?

There are no fast and simple solutions but, to start, there must be established an organisation that gathers the world, as we have done for climate, economy and other issues, and decides on the protocols and rules for engagement with AI technology.

We already know robots make things faster and better and drones can fly goods and medicines anywhere. We will need fewer professionals, including doctors and lawyers, and their support staff may also be mostly eliminated.

If manufacturing and services profit from this and jobs are eliminated, a tax can be applied to fund basic wages for everyone and retraining initiatives.

Technology creates solutions and causes problems we have yet to understand or cope with. Unintended consequences of anything introduced are always difficult to predict until they are discovered. The impact of social media on children’s brains is probably a more serious threat than any toxins we now live with.

We live in a world that is becoming increasingly complex and mysterious, even exponentially. 

So, I ask and look forward to any comments. Why would such super-duper brilliant techies need a pause when it is not practical? We need workable solutions now.