Musk: Why Elon Musk, Apple co-founder and others want to put a ‘pause’ on ChatGPT-like models – Times of India

The AI gravy train has truly left the platform and is steaming on full force ahead. Microsoft, Google, Meta and several other big — as well as small — companies are looking to ride the AI wave using language models like ChatGPT. However, in the tech circles, there are sceptics who are looking to put some sort of brakes on it. And these include Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak among others.
In an open letter — signed by Musk, Wozniak and other notable names — a call has been made to “immediately pause for at least 6 months the training of AI systems more powerful than GPT-4.”
The letter argues that “AI systems with human-competitive intelligence can pose profound risks to society and humanity.”

Are we ready for AI to take over jobs, lives?

Musk and others ask in the letter if, “Contemporary AI systems are now becoming human-competitive at general tasks, and we must ask ourselves: Should we let machines flood our information channels with propaganda and untruth? Should we automate away all the jobs, including the fulfilling ones? Should we develop nonhuman minds that might eventually outnumber, outsmart, obsolete and replace us? Should we risk loss of control of our civilisation?”
The letter, which has 1,125 signatories including co-founders of Pinterest and Skype, said that the pause should be immediate and if not implemented then governments should step in. “This pause should be public and verifiable, and include all key actors. If such a pause cannot be enacted quickly, governments should step in and institute a moratorium.”
The signatories stated that the development of AI shouldn’t be stopped. The pause, according to the letter, should be used to jointly develop and implement a set of shared safety protocols for advanced AI design and development that are rigorously audited and overseen by independent outside experts. “This does not mean a pause on AI development in general, merely a stepping back from the dangerous race to ever-larger unpredictable black-box models with emergent capabilities,” the letter noted.