Musk, Experts Urge AI Development Pause

Facts

• In an open letter issued by the Future of Life Institute, Artificial Intelligence (AI) experts — including SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Stability AI CEO Emad Mostaque, and Google researchers — have called for a six-month pause in developing systems more powerful than OpenAI's newly launched GPT-4.¹
• The Future of Life Institute is a non-profit that focuses on "steering transformative technology towards benefiting life and away from extreme large-scale risks."²
• In the letter, more than 1k experts say they believe the pause should take place until proper safety protocols have been developed and vetted by independent experts.³
• ^They also call for new regulators dedicated to tracking AI, provenance and watermarking systems to help distinguish real from synthetic and track model leaks, and a robust auditing and certification ecosystem.²
• The letter cites OpenAI founder Sam Altman's own blog, in which he stated that "at some point, it may be important to get independent review before starting to train future systems." In response, the letter said, "We agree. That point is now."⁴
• This letter comes amid rumors that Musk, an early investor in OpenAI and current funder of the Future of Life Institute, is exploring developing a rival to ChatGPT.³

Sources: ¹Reuters, ²Forbes, ³New York Post, and ⁴Techxplore.

Narratives

• Narrative A, as provided by Medium. It’s time to take a breather as we figure out the best way to live peacefully with and avoid some of the pitfalls of this rapidly advancing technology. Just as other technology has safety measures in place, we need similar rules for AI.
• Narrative B, as provided by Forbes. Musk isn’t afraid of what AI technology will do; he’s just concerned he’ll lose the race to develop the best and most profitable AI systems in the world. He left OpenAI over a power struggle, and Musk's motives for participating in this letter are purely business.

Predictions