Friday, October 27, 2023

Should We Shut Down Artificial Intelligence? Laura Kuenssberg’s Perspective

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AI – artificial intelligence – is a term we are going to hear a lot about in the coming months. From the Pope’s crazy puffa jacket to a student avoiding a parking ticket, AI is making its presence felt in our lives. This week, the UK government published draft proposals on how to regulate this emerging technology, while a letter signed by more than 1,000 tech experts including Tesla boss Elon Musk called on the world to press pause on the development of more advanced AI because it poses “profound risks to humanity”.

Estonian billionaire Jaan Tallinn, one of the brains behind internet communication app Skype and now one of the leading voices trying to put the brakes on AI, explains the threat as simply as he can: “Imagine if you substitute human civilisation with AI civilisation. Civilisation that could potentially run millions of times faster than humans… so like, imagine global warming was sped up a million times.” He believes it’s possible to “apply the existing technology, regulation, knowledge and regulatory frameworks” to the current generation of AI, but warns that if governments don’t act, we are in a lot of trouble.

The tech experts are not saying they want to put a stop to all AI development, but pause the high-end work that is training computers to be ever smarter and more like us. Italy has banned ChatGPT while the EU is working on an Artificial Intelligence Act and China is bringing in laws and a “registry” for algorithms. However, the UK government’s set of draft proposals this week proposed no new laws, and no new watchdog or regulator to take it on.

Westminster and technology are not always a happy mix and while politics moves pretty fast these days, compared to developments in Silicon Valley, it’s a snail versus an F1 car. The government wants, for now, to give existing regulators like the Health and Safety Executive the responsibility of keeping an eye on what is going on. Ministers also want the UK to make the most of its undoubted expertise in the field because AI is big business with huge potential benefits.

The challenge according to one minister is to be “very, very tough on the bad stuff”, but “harness the seriously beneficial bits” too. Labour’s shadow digital secretary Lucy Powell disagrees, saying the government “hasn’t grappled with the scale of the problem” and we are “running to catch up”. The Health and Safety Executive wouldn’t say how many staff it had ready to work on the issue or are being trained.

One MP familiar with the field reckons: “The tech bros have all watched a bit too much Terminator – how does this technology go from a computer program to removing oxygen from the atmosphere?” The MP believes heavier regulation won’t be required for a few years. Another senior MP says the risks are not yet “catastrophic” and it’s better to take a careful and gradual approach to any new laws than “take a running jump, and splash into the unknown”.

This generation of politicians and those who follow will increasingly have to spend their time grappling with this emerging frontier of technology. Predictions about the potential of technology are often wildly wrong, so striking the right balance between regulation and innovation is an almighty challenge for governments around the world. It’s up to them to ensure that AI is used for good and not for harm.

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