The news of November 7thOpenAI Chief Executive Officer Sam AltmannSam AltmanIn a recent interview with Raj Shamani, he said:Artificial IntelligenceTHERE MAY BE TWO WAYS TO GET OUT OF CONTROL: THE GRADUAL TRANSFER OF CONTROL FROM HUMANS TO AUTONOMOUS AI AND THE MONOPOLIZATION OF AI TECHNOLOGY BY AN INDIVIDUAL OR ENTITY。
IN THE FIRST CASE, ALTMAN WARNED: “AI WILL GRADUALLY LOSE CONTROL, AND WE MAY, EITHER DELIBERATELY OR INADVERTENTLY, HAND OVER CONTROL TO SYSTEMS THAT ARE FAR BEYOND HUMAN CAPABILITIES AND WILL EVENTUALLY NEVER BE ABLE TO REGAIN IT.”
THE RISK OF THE SECOND SITUATION LIES IN A GIANT MONOPOLY, AS EXPLAINED BY ALTMANN: “ANOTHER SITUATION IS ONE IN WHICH ONE PERSON, COMPANY OR STATE IS TOO POWERFUL VIS-À-VIS ALL OTHERS. IT'S MUCH SAFER FOR MULTIPLE AI LABORATORIES TO COMPETE WITH EACH OTHER THAN FOR ALL PEOPLE TO RELY ON A SINGLE ENTERPRISE.”
This concern for excessive centralization explains the choice of prominent figures such as Mask and former executives of OpenAI to leave and start competing companies. As Altman notes: “There is an idea in many minds that they only believe in their ability to develop this technology because the stakes are too great.”
DESPITE THIS, ALTMANN REMAINS CONVINCED THAT AI WILL BRING HUMANITY A BETTER FUTURE. HE MENTIONED, IN PARTICULAR, BASIC SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH, THAT THE NEXT GENERATION OF AI MODELS WOULD ALLOW FOR CONTINUOUS SCIENTIFIC PROGRESS。