AI companies playing Russian roulette with humanity, researcher says

A prominent expert in artificial intelligence (AI) safety says tech companies locked in an “AI arms race” risk human extinction.

Stuart Russell, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, told AFP that the world’s biggest AI companies understand the dangers posed by superintelligent technology that could outperform humans.

He believes CEOs of these companies want to disarm, but cannot do so “unilaterally” out of fear of angering investors. Therefore, Russell urged world leaders to take collective action against AI developers to save humanity.

"For governments to allow private entities to essentially play Russian roulette with every human being on earth is, in my view, a total dereliction of duty," Russell said, quoted by Barron’s.

Speaking at the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi, Russell said the technology promises benefits in fields such as drug discovery. However, it comes with risks, including joblessness, surveillance, and online abuse.

Russell’s comments come hours after Ireland opened an investigation into xAI’s chatbot Grok, which caused a global outcry for generating nonconsensual sexualized deepfakes, including those of children, raising concerns about “industrialization” of online harassment.

Meta is reportedly planning to add facial recognition technology to its smart glasses, according to the New York Times. The feature, called Name Tag, would allow wearers to identify people and get information about them via Meta’s AI assistant.

Critics have long warned against making facial recognition widely available, as it would mean the end of privacy as we know it. Thus far, Meta doesn’t plan to give users the ability to look up anyone they encountered, limiting facial recognition to people they know.

For governments to allow private entities to essentially play Russian roulette with every human being on earth is, in my view, a total dereliction of duty.

Stuart Russell

Another risk is “AI systems themselves taking control and human civilization being collateral damage in that process,” Russell said.

Leaders of tech companies predict that general artificial intelligence (AGI), which surpasses human intelligence, will be developed within years, and could cause major disruptions.

However, some independent experts refute such claims, saying that AGI is impossible, while the Harvard Business Review recently called it “the most consequential conspiracy theory of our time.”

Nevertheless, some industry insiders are worried about the trajectory of AI technology. OpenAI researcher Zoë Hitzig recently resigned, citing concerns about introducing ads into ChatGPT.

She warned that the vast knowledge the AI tool has about humans creates the potential to manipulate users “in ways we don’t have the tools to understand, let alone prevent.”

Meanwhile, Anthropic’s security researcher, Mrinank Sharma, departed the company, saying the “world is in peril,” partly because of AI.

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