Going faster will only slow AI down
Without stronger safeguards, the danger is that any disaster could trigger a furious public backlash and regulatory overreaction.
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Former employees of Anthropic, OpenAI and Google DeepMind say these companies do not take safety seriously enough and cannot be trusted.
PHOTO: REUTERS
John Thornhill
The bosses of the biggest AI companies are convinced that machine intelligence will soon surpass the human version. But we may get there quicker than we think if we keep degrading human intelligence.
When artificial intelligence companies admit to releasing powerful models they do not fully understand and cannot control, then it is probably worth paying attention to this matter. All the more so, when a succession of former employees of Anthropic, OpenAI and Google DeepMind say these companies do not take safety seriously enough and cannot be trusted. But in his immense vanity, US President Donald Trump has declared that a “strong and smart (high IQ!) president” is the only control mechanism the industry needs. The US leads China and the rest of the world in AI and Trump wants to keep it that way. “Whoever wins AI, wins!” he posted.