AI can't be put back into Pandora's box. But the world's largest AI companies are voluntarily working with governments to address some of the biggest concerns surrounding the technology and allay fears that unchecked AI development could lead to science fiction scenarios in which AI turns against its creators. But without strong legal provisions to strengthen government efforts on AI, the debate will only go so far.
This morning, 16 influential AI companies, including Anthropic, Microsoft, and OpenAI, 10 countries, and the European Union held a summit in Seoul to develop guidelines for responsible AI development. One of the big outcomes of yesterday's summit was that the AI companies in attendance agreed to a so-called kill switch, a policy that halts development of cutting-edge AI models if they are deemed to have exceeded a certain risk threshold. However, it is unclear how effective this policy will be in practice, given the failure to attach real legal weight to the agreement or define specific risk thresholds. Other of his AI companies that were not present, as well as competitors of companies that have mentally agreed to the terms, are not subject to the pledge.
“In extreme cases, organizations commit not to develop or deploy models or systems at all if mitigation measures cannot be applied to reduce risk below a threshold,” says AI companies such as Amazon, Google, and Samsung. This is stated in the signed policy document. The summit is a follow-up to the Bletchley Park AI Safety Summit held last October, which attracted similar AI developers but lacked viable short-term efforts to protect humanity from the spread of AI. As a result, he was criticized for being “valuable, but lacking in ability.''
Following the last summit, a group of participants wrote an open letter criticizing the forum's lack of formal rulemaking and the outsized role of AI companies in driving regulation of their own industries. “Experience has shown that the best way to address these harms is through enforceable regulatory mandates, rather than through self-regulation or voluntary action,” the letter said. I am.
Writers and researchers have been warning about the risks of powerful artificial intelligence for decades, first in science fiction and now in the real world. One of the most well-known references is the “Terminator Scenario.” This is the theory that if left unchecked, AI could become more powerful than its human creators and could even attack it. The theory's name comes from the 1984 Arnold Schwarzenegger movie. The film features a woman whose cyborg travels back in time to kill her unborn son, who ends up fighting her AI system, which plans to cause a nuclear holocaust.
“AI offers tremendous opportunities to transform our economy and solve our greatest challenges, but we can only maximize this potential if we understand the risks posed by this rapidly evolving and complex technology.” I have always been clear that we can only draw on the maximum amount possible.'' Michelle Donnellan said.
AI companies themselves recognize that their cutting-edge products are venturing into technologically and morally uncharted territory. Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, defined artificial general intelligence (AGI) as AI that exceeds human intelligence and said it is “coming soon” but carries risks.
“AGI will also come with significant risks, including abuse, serious accidents, and social disruption,” OpenAI's blog post says. “The benefits of AGI are so great that we do not believe it is possible or desirable for society to permanently halt its development. Instead, society and AGI developers need to understand how to properly realize it. you need to find out.”
But so far, efforts to cobble together a global regulatory framework around AI have been scattered and largely lack legislative authority. A UN policy framework calling on countries to prevent AI risks to human rights, monitor the use of personal data and reduce AI risks was approved unanimously last month, but was not binding. The Bletchley Declaration, the centerpiece of the Global AI Summit held in the UK last October, contained no specific regulatory commitments.
Meanwhile, AI companies themselves are starting to establish their own organizations to promote AI policy. Yesterday, Amazon and Meta joined the Frontier Model Foundation, an industry nonprofit organization “dedicated to improving the safety of frontier AI models,” according to its website. They join founding members Anthropic, Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI. The nonprofit group has not yet come up with a firm policy proposal.
Individual governments have been more successful: Administration officials hailed President Biden's executive order last October regulating AI safety as “the first time the government has gone ahead with a policy” that includes strict legal requirements that go beyond the vague promises outlined in other similarly intended documents. Biden has invoked the Defense Production Act, for example, to require AI companies to share the results of their safety tests with the government. The EU and China have also enacted formal policies addressing topics such as copyright law and the collection of users' personal data.
States are also taking action, with Colorado Governor Jared Polis yesterday banning algorithmic discrimination in AI and requiring developers to share internal data with state regulators to ensure compliance. announced a new bill requiring the
This won't be the last chance for global AI regulation. France is set to host another summit early next year, following the meetings in Seoul and Bletchley Park. By then, participants say they will have produced a formal definition of risk benchmarks that would require regulatory action, a major step forward for what has been a relatively cautious process so far.
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