Agree on the seriousness of concerns about jobs… and doubts about “commercial motives”
Friday – 9 Ramadan 1444 A.H. – March 31, 2023 A.D. Issue Number [16194]
Cairo: Hazem Badr
The call made by 1,377 experts, scientists and technology makers to start a six-month “truce”, during which companies stop developing artificial intelligence systems for a period of 6 months, sparked a divergence in the opinions of specialists.
While some agreed on the “seriousness of concerns” related to employment risks and the need for “digital governance”, others questioned the “commercial and economic motives” that might drive some of the participants in the call.
The company “Open AI” surprised the world, in the middle of this month, with a copy of “Chat GBT 4”; Months after version 3.5 of the same technique.
The petition, which was prepared by the Institute for the Future of Life, on Wednesday, was signed by prominent figures, including the owner of Tesla electric cars, Elon Musk, and co-founder of (Apple) Steve Wozniak.
Asharq Al-Awsat spoke to 5 experts, including 4 of the signatories of the petition, to explore their reasons for the “truce project”. Tony Prescott, a professor of cognitive robotics at Britain’s University of Sheffield, told Asharq Al-Awsat that “my main concerns relate to the impact on human jobs and the possibility of an increase in misleading information.”
Hatem Zaghloul, the Egyptian-Canadian telecommunications scientist, inventor of Wi-Fi, did not hide his fears about what he described as “economic and commercial purposes stemming from competition between technological entities.” Zaghloul told Asharq Al-Awsat that these motives “may be behind some signing this petition, but there is no doubt that there are others whose motives are noble.”
