In a recent open letter published by the Center for AI Safety (CAIS), a group of leading AI scientists, including Sam Altman and Ilya Sutskever, co-founders of OpenAI and creators of the AI chatbot ChatGPT, expressed their concern about the potential risk of extinction from AI. The letter, signed by a diverse group of AI experts, states, “Mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war.”
The signatories of the letter include some of the most respected figures in the field of AI, such as Geoffrey Hinton, Emeritus Professor of Computer Science at the University of Toronto; Yoshua Bengio, Professor of Computer Science at U. Montreal / Mila; Demis Hassabis, CEO of Google DeepMind; and Dawn Song, Professor of Computer Science at UC Berkeley, among others.
The CAIS, the organization behind the open letter, is dedicated to reducing societal-scale risks from artificial intelligence. Their mission is to address the often-neglected field of AI safety through research, field-building, and advocacy. The organization believes that mitigating the risks associated with AI should be a global priority, on par with other significant societal risks.
The open letter is a call to action for the global community to recognize and address the potential dangers posed by AI. The signatories urge for a collective effort to mitigate these risks and ensure the safe and beneficial use of AI. As the technology continues to advance at a rapid pace, the need for such precautions becomes increasingly urgent.
The letter serves as a reminder that while AI has the potential to bring about significant benefits, it also carries with it substantial risks. It underscores the importance of responsible AI development and the need for ongoing research and dialogue in the field of AI safety.
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