The executive director and co-founder of Open AI, developer of the ChatGPT text generation program, stressed that the intervention of the world’s governments is necessary to ensure that the tools that come from Artificial Intelligence are developed in a way that protects and respects rights and the freedoms of citizens
The CEO and co-founder of Open AI, developer of the ChatGPT text generation program, sam altmanasked this Tuesday, May 16, the United States Congress to regulate the development and uses of artificial intelligence (AI).
In an appearance before a Senate subcommittee, Altman listed the beneficial applications of technology, from medicine to combating the climate crisis, and was confident that AI could be used for the benefit of humanity. But he qualified that the intervention of the world’s governments is necessary to ensure that these tools are developed in a way that protects and respects the rights and freedoms of citizens.
“We believe that the benefits of the tools we have developed so far far outweigh the risks,” the businessman defended during the hearing. However, the OpenAI co-founder expressed concern about the risks the technology could pose to the world if its development is not monitored.
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“My biggest fear is that we will cause (…) significant damage to the world,” Altman said when asked about his main concerns about artificial intelligence. He added that “if this technology goes bad, it can go pretty bad.”
“That could happen in many ways. That’s why we started the company,” he said, adding that his company wants to work with the government to prevent that from happening.
Altman’s testimony comes amid concern on the part of US authorities that the rapid advancement of AI technologies could have unintended effects on society. Lawmakers cited risks such as job losses or the use of content creation tools to generate false information by foreign actors.
To illustrate his concerns, Senator Richard Blumenthal, chairman of the Privacy, Technology, and the Law subcommittee and audience advocate, broadcast an AI-powered recording that had been written by ChatGPT, mimicking the style and focus of the chat. congressman.
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“Quoting ChatGPT, this is not necessarily the future we want,” Blumenthal joked at the start of the event.
Altman conceded that AI was likely to affect the job market, but was optimistic that in the long run, the technology would create more new jobs than it would destroy. “We are tremendously creative,” confided the businessman.
Another guest at the event, IBM’s Director of Privacy and Trust, Christina Montgomery, cited her own position as an example of work that didn’t exist before the development of AI.
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Altman was also open to Blumenthal’s suggestion that the government develop independent laboratories to test the reliability of the artificial intelligence models, and that they would give them a similar grade to the nutritional rating of food.
The head of OpenAI admitted that his products are still buggy, but over time they will become more and more reliable.
Another of the senators who promoted the audience, Republican Josh Hawley, assured that artificial intelligence is “one of the most significant innovations in history”, but that it is still not clear if it will be more similar to the invention of the printing press or to the of the atomic bomb.
The congressmen argued that while it is true that public regulation is needed, AI companies like OpenAI do not have to wait for Congress to put in place mechanisms to control the development of the technology to mitigate the damage.
At the beginning of the month, the US government announced that it will invest 140 million dollars (128.85 million euros at today’s exchange rate) to establish seven new artificial intelligence research institutes that will drive responsible innovation and ensure that advances in technology serve the common good.
The centers will join the 18 AI research institutes already operating in the country. In addition, the White House announced that major AI companies have agreed to undergo a public evaluation of their systems during the DEF CON 31 hacker event, to be held in Las Vegas in early August.
During the convention, thousands of participants will analyze whether these systems are aligned with the AI Bill of Rights proposed by the US government, which includes principles such as the privacy of user data or protection against discriminatory algorithms.
With information from EFE
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