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UK Expert Warns World May Lack Time to Prepare for AI Safety Risks

Will advanced AI pose an unprecedented threat to human wellbeing, or create prosperity like past tech revolutions?

JAN 5·Updated JAN 6

UK Expert Warns World May Lack Time to Prepare for AI Safety Risks

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Above: A photo illustration of an Apple iPhone screen displaying AI apps. Image credit: alexsl/Getty Images

The Facts

David Dalrymple, a program director and AI safety expert at the U.K. government's Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA), has warned that the world "may not have time" to prepare for the safety risks posed by AI.
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MINT
NDTV
Speaking to The Guardian, Dalrymple claimed it was "not science fiction" to imagine that within five years the "most economically valuable tasks" could be performed by machines "at a higher level of quality and lower cost than by humans."
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The AI safety expert also advised that governments should not assume that advanced AI systems are reliable, noting that "the science to do that is just not likely to materialize in time given the economic pressure."
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The danger, according to Dalrymple, is the risk of creating advanced AI systems capable of outcompeting people "in all of the domains that we need to be dominant in, in order to maintain control of our civilization, society and planet."
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Dalrymple's interview comes as the U.K. AI Security Institute published a report finding that AI capabilities were "improving rapidly" and doubling every eight months in some areas, with advanced AIs completing apprentice-level tasks 50% of the time on average, compared to just over 10% in early 2024.
AI Security Institute
In response to the accelerated growth of AI, Dalrymple's Safeguard program at ARIA pivoted in November from funding specialist AI teams to turning its TA1 toolkit into "a foundational, open-source platform for mathematical assurance, formal verification and auditable AI systems."
Advanced Research and Invention Agency
Advanced Research and Invention Agency

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The Spin

Techno-skeptic narrative

There is a possibility that advanced AI systems could outcompete people across all critical domains within the next five years. Yet, society is sleepwalking into this transition without any adequate safety measures. Governments must wake up to the danger, as well as the reality that the AI systems in which they have placed their faith are not as reliable as they hoped.

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Pedro Bentancour Garin on X

Techno-optimist narrative

The coming AI revolution will bring with it unimagined prosperity, just like its historical counterparts, but only if the government stays out of the way. If society, at the behest of public outcry and fear, decides instead to restrict the growth of AI through regulation, not only will this delay the inevitable, but it will also make the world and its people poorer.

The Wall Street Journal