AN artificial intelligence expert has warned that scientists need to slow down in their quest for super AI as they could accidentally create a “God-like” machine.
AI investor Ian Hogarth expressed his concerns in a recent opinion piece in the Financial Times.
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The expert warns that we could be a decade to half a century away from creating artificial general intelligence (AGI).
AGI is the next level of AI that’s equally as smart as an average human and can learn just like how we learn.
Hogarth explained: “A three-letter acronym doesn’t capture the enormity of what AGI would represent, so I will refer to it as what is: God-like AI.
“A superintelligent computer that learns and develops autonomously, that understands its environment without the need for supervision and that can transform the world around it.”
The AI investor went on to describe how a machine learning researcher told him how humans are on the brink of developing AGI.
The main issue a lot of experts are worried about is that we don’t know much about AGI or how we would control it.
Hogarth wrote: “If you think we could be close to something potentially so dangerous,’ I said to the researcher, ‘shouldn’t you warn people about what’s happening?
“He was clearly grappling with the responsibility he faced but, like many in the field, seemed pulled along by the rapidity of progress.”
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The AI investor then described the fears he has for his four-year-old son and the world he might live in with AGI.
He feels “anger” that not enough is being done to consider the negative impact on the future AI could have.
“It felt deeply wrong that consequential decisions potentially affecting every life on Earth could be made by a small group of private companies without democratic oversight,” he wrote.
However, Hogarth notes he has invested in 50 AI startups and therefore could be viewed as adding to the issue.
He doesn’t think AGI has been created yet but urges companies to consider slowing down or risk “obsolescence or destruction of the human race.”
The AI investor says he’ll only put his money towards responsible developers from now on but fears the race to God-like AI won’t slow down despite the consequences being unknown.
Hogarth isn’t alone in these concerns.
Elon Musk along with over 1,000 AI experts recently signed an open letter that urges for a pause on creating new systems “more powerful” than current bots like ChatGPT.
However, Bill Gates recently told Reuters that he does not agree.
The billionaire told the outlet: “I don’t think asking one particular group to pause solves the challenges.”
He did warn: “Clearly there’s huge benefits to these things… what we need to do is identify the tricky areas.”
