Elon Musk, Prominent Tech Leaders Call for a Pause on AI Technology

Prominent members of the tech industry, including Elon Musk and Steve Wozniak, have signed a petition calling for a six-month pause on AI technology so that regulation can be considered. The petition states that with the implementation of GPT-4, the most advanced version of ChatGPT to date, all future AI systems should be put on pause until potential ethical concerns can be addressed.

“Contemporary AI systems are now becoming human-competitive at general tasks,^[3] and we must ask ourselves: Should we let machines flood our information channels with propaganda and untruth? Should we automate away all the jobs, including the fulfilling ones? Should we develop nonhuman minds that might eventually outnumber, outsmart, obsolete and replace us? Should we risk loss of control of our civilization? Such decisions must not be delegated to unelected tech leaders. Powerful AI systems should be developed only once we are confident that their effects will be positive and their risks will be manageable.”
Pause Giant AI Experiments: An Open Letter

The petition, signed by over 1,000 people, calls for a moratorium on AI technology by either the tech companies themselves or by the government. OpenAI has previously stated that independent review may be necessary for more advanced technological models in the future. This petition is arguing that OpenAI’s GPT technology, and AI technology like it, has already reached the point that requires regulation. “AI research and development should be refocused on making today’s powerful, state-of-the-art systems more accurate, safe, interpretable, transparent, robust, aligned, trustworthy, and loyal,” the petition states.

The recent development of GPT-4 has shocked the tech industry. The multimodal model can now beat 90% of lawyers who are trying to pass the bar exam. It is also beginning to be implemented by medical professionals to help doctors properly diagnose patients in shorter periods of time.

While the technology has had some extraordinary achievements, many are concerned about its potential dangers and biases. Musk, one of the founders of OpenAI, has continually expressed his concern about the technology’s potential to spread disinformation based on the way engineers write the algorithms. Social media users have posted multiple examples of ChatGPT showing political bias despite OpenAI stating that the technology operates without any bias towards a certain political group.