The CEO of a leading AI company has expressed concerns over the unchecked growth of AI and its potential to cause harm.
Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, one of the leading AI research institutions in the world, has recently shared his controversial opinion about the future of AI.
In an interview with ABC News, Altman admitted that he and his team are “a little bit scared” about the potential of AI to change the world.
Altman’s concerns are not unfounded; as AI technology continues to advance, it has the potential to revolutionise almost every aspect of our lives. From self-driving cars to intelligent virtual assistants, AI is already changing the way we live and work.
In fact, during the release of GPT-4, OpenAI received a warning as it had only been less than four months since the original version was launched, which had quickly become the fastest-growing consumer application in history.
In an interview, an AI engineer acknowledged that the latest version had achieved a 90% score on the bar exams in the US and nearly perfect scores on the high school SAT math test.
The engineer further claimed that GPT-4 had the ability to write computer code in multiple programming languages, though it was not without imperfections.
For that reason, Altman worries that as AI becomes more powerful and widespread, it could also lead to unintended consequences.
“We’ve got to be careful here,” Altman told ABC News, adding: “I think people should be happy that we are a little bit scared of this.”
“I’m particularly worried that these models could be used for large-scale disinformation,” Altman said. “Now that they’re getting better at writing computer code, [they] could be used for offensive cyber-attacks.”
One of the biggest concerns is that AI could be used to create autonomous weapons that could make decisions and take action without human intervention.
Altman argues that such weapons would be dangerous and could easily be used for nefarious purposes. He believes that AI researchers and policymakers need to take a more proactive approach to ensure that AI is used for the benefit of humanity, rather than as a tool of destruction.
Another concern is that AI could lead to widespread unemployment as machines replace human workers in many industries. The expert further believes that this could create significant social and economic problems and that we need to start thinking about how we can mitigate such effects.
There’s a brighter side to the story
Despite these concerns, Altman is optimistic about the potential of AI to improve our lives. He that it could be “the greatest technology humanity has yet developed.”
The tech expert believes that AI could be used to solve some of the world’s most pressing problems, such as climate change and disease. He also thinks that AI could help us unlock new discoveries in science and medicine that would be impossible with human intelligence alone.
To achieve these goals, he believes that we need to approach AI development with caution and responsibility, arguing that AI researchers and policymakers need to work together to ensure that it is developed in a way that is safe, transparent and ethical.
This includes developing robust safety standards for autonomous systems, ensuring that AI is transparent and explainable, and considers the ethical implications of AI in decision-making processes.
