Almost 30,000 people have signed a petition calling for an “immediate pause” to the development of more powerful artificial intelligence (AI) systems. The interesting thing is that these aren’t Luddites with an inherent dislike of technology. Names on the petition include Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, Tesla, Twitter, and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, and Turing Prize winner Yoshua Bengio.
Others speaking out about the dangers include Geoffrey Hinton, widely credited as “the godfather of AI.” In a recent interview with the BBC to mark his retirement from Google at the age of 75, he warned that “we need to worry” about the speed at which AI is becoming smarter.
One of the most incredible talks I have seen in a long time. Geoffrey Hinton essentially tells the audience that the end of humanity is close. AI has become that significant. This is the godfather of AI stating this and sounding an alarm.
His conclusion: “Humanity is just a passing phase for evolutionary intelligence.”
Existential risk from AI is admittedly more speculative than pressing concerns such as its bias, but the basic solution is the same. A robust public discussion is long overdue, says David Krueger
In order to prevent the potentially destructive impact of AI on humanity, we need open-source innovation and collective governance that is possible through blockchain protocols and Web3, rather than the monopoly defaulting structure of Web2, according to Michael Casey, CoinDesk’s chief content officer.
Beyond our own Milky Way galaxy, there are physical limits on our access to the Universe. In this new video from PBS Space Time, we explore the absolute limit of our future view of the Universe, and of the Universe’s ability to influence us.
We humans have always been explorers. The great civilisations that have arisen across the world are owed to our restless ancestors. These days, there’s not much of Earth left to explore. But if we look up, there’s a whole Universe out there waiting for us. Future generations may one day explore the cosmos and could even settle entire other galaxies.