A.I. or Nuclear Weapons: Can You Tell These Quotes Apart?
The New York Times Many experts on artificial intelligence are warning of its potential dangers and calling for regulation, just as others once did with the atomic bomb.
The comparison seems to be everywhere these days. Its like nuclear weapons, a pioneering artificial intelligence researcher has said. Top A.I. executives have likened their product to nuclear energy. And a group of industry leaders warned last week that A.I. technology could pose an existential threat to humanity, on par with nuclear war.
People have been analogizing A.I. advances to splitting the atom for years. But the comparison has become more stark amid the release of A.I. chatbots and A.I. creators calls for national and international regulation much as scientists called for guardrails governing nuclear arms in the 1950s. Some experts worry that A.I. will eliminate jobs or spread disinformation in the short term; others fear hyper-intelligent systems could eventually learn to write their own computer code, slip the bonds of human control and, perhaps, decide to wipe us out. The creators of this technology are telling us they are worried, said Rachel Bronson, the president of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, which tracks man-made threats to civilization. The creators of this technology are asking for governance and regulation. The creators of this technology are telling us we need to pay attention.
