Musk warns of “civilizational risk” — RT World News

The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) could pose a problem “civilizational risk” for humanity if technology continues to be developed without independent oversight, Elon Musk warned US senators at a summit of technology leaders in Washington DC on Wednesday.

Speaking to reporters as he left the US Capitol after the three-hour ‘AI Security Forum’ – which also included contributions from Bill Gates, Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg and Sundar Pichai of Alphabet – Musk indicated that there was a “an overwhelming consensus” among the tech giants to master AI technology. Failure to do so could lead to “severe” consequences, he warned.

“The question is actually a question of civilizational risk” Musk said, according to NBC News. “It’s not like one group of humans is pitted against another. It feels like this is something potentially risky for all humans, everywhere. The billionaire added his belief that there is a “above zero” chance “This AI will kill us all.”

AI language models, commonly known as “chatbots,” were popularized last year with the public release of OpenAI’s ChatGPT. The technology is capable of answering questions or composing complex passages of prose in human-like language. Critics have warned that some information AI chatbots present to users can be wildly inaccurate.

It has also raised concerns about mass layoffs in job sectors that could be replaced by AI, as well as an increase in online fraud and misinformation.

“I think if this technology goes wrong, it can go wrong.” Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI and developer of ChatGPT, said. “We want to talk about this. We want to work with the government to prevent this from happening.

Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer, who called the meeting, described the discussion as “historical.” He said there had been a unanimous call for regulation, but no agreement had been reached on how this should be implemented.

The creation of an independent agency to oversee the pace of AI development was among the topics discussed at the forum, The Guardian reported on Thursday, as were methods to ensure transparency at big tech companies.

However, Republican Senator Mike Rounds said after the meeting that the US Congress was currently in the process of “absolutely not” in a position to propose legislation to govern artificial intelligence, while outspoken Republican Rep. Josh Hawley refused to attend what he called a “Giant cocktail for Big Tech.”