Tech companies sound alarm on AI
(NBC, KYMA) - There is a new push from leaders of the artificial intelligence (AI) industry to slow down the race to develop the new technology.
It comes after an apocalyptic warning from Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, and others, about the possible future of the AI capabilities.
New AI concerns spurred by a viral social media post from Jacob Coxon a former employee at leading AI firm Anthropic, who warned that the rapid development of AI could lead to the extinction of humankind by the end of the decade.
In an interview with Meet the Press Sunday, Coxon reiterated his concerns.
"You're building a human level or super human level mind without understanding what it wants or thinks or the way it thinks and I think that intrinsically should be quite scary," Coxon explained.
In an interview with Fortune Magazine Saturday, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said the San Francisco AI giant will not go public this year.
"We understand the magnitude of responsibility on us. we understand what could go wrong and that there are decisions and risks," Altman expressed. "There are decision we should not be able to make…there are risks we should not be able to incur on behalf of humanity."
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei wrote in a new essay saying, "We must slow the pace at which we've improved the capabilities of AI models."
He expanded on that warning in an interview on CBS Sunday Morning saying, "It doesn't mean we need to panic today. It doesn't mean we need to shut it all down. What I would say is it's a warning sign that we need to slow down."
President Donald Trump expressed concerns Sunday about an AI slowdown.
"We're leading China in AI we're the most sophisticated country in the world and I wanna keep it that way because whoever wins AI wins. They can put guard rails," President Trump spoke.
Christopher Sestito, CEO of Hidden Layer, a cybersecurity company working to secure AI systems, said the AI risks vocalized this week are exaggerated.
"This is grandstanding and attention seeking, but there are real threats, and that is the risk of trusting AI without having security controls in place to prevent any tampering," Sestito shared.
Now some are fighting for an international approach to AI.
"Part of my worry was that I feel we need international coordination, or else we risk running the same race with China, which could be equally dangerous," Coxon remarked.
Just last week, former President Barack Obama said AI could be dangerous if more isn't done, urging Democrats to prioritize AI controls.
