‘You can do both’: experts seek ‘good AI’ while attempting to avoid the bad
GuardianJul 07, 2023
An open letter signed by over 1.3K experts in artificial intelligence (AI) says that AI is a "force for good" and "not a threat to humanity." The letter was released by the BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT, a UK-based technology society.
Signatories include University of Oxford professor Luciano Floridi, Stemettes CEO Dr. Anne-Marie Imafidon, and entrepreneur Sir Ken Olisa, among other figures in technology and academia.
There's good reason to be hopeful about the future of AI, and a better world is within our reach with careful management of the technology. By focusing less on apocalyptic predictions and more on tangible harms and benefits, we can fully unleash the power of AI to tackle some of our most serious problems in the scientific and human realms. We must remain level-headed and work to ensure AI is used for good.
Anyone who is blasé about the risk AI poses to humanity hasn't been paying close enough attention. AI has been developing at a breakneck pace and could outsmart humanity before too long. It's imperative that we take the existential risk that AI poses seriously, as an arms race between developers could see everything from fake news to cybercrime explode thanks to the sophisticated tech. We cannot afford to be reckless in this endeavor.
The doomsayers and the optimists are two sides of the same coin, feeding into the unfounded hype around AI systems that has been uncritically reported by the media. The technology behind AI isn't fundamentally new, and humans are wrongly ascribing human traits to clever programs, easily duping us. AI will not be the end of the world, and it won't be a gold rush for anyone but those who get the public to buy into the hype.