HOW TO THINK RATIONALLY ABOUT AI

The entire planet is hooked on the conversation about AI and its sinister future. But if you ask those in the know (and we have), our future with machines looks entirely different to what the world's CEOs would have us believe. Here's how to stop worrying and maybe learn to love AI...

IS AI OUT OF CONTROL?

DR GARY MARCUS

Dr Gary Marcus is an emeritus professor of psychology and neural science at New York University and a leading voice in artificial intelligence.

Al can do impressive things, but even the experts say it poses a very real threat to us. So, should we put a hold on its development or is it already too late?

Many of the world's leading voices in artificial intelligence have begun to express fears about the technology. They include two of the so-called 'Godfathers of Al' - Dr Geoffrey Hinton and Prof Yoshua Bengio, who both played a significant role in its development.

Hinton shocked the Al world in May 2023 by quitting his role as one of Google's vice presidents and engineering fellows, citing his concerns about the risks the tech could pose to humanity through the spread of misinformation. He even said he harbours some degree of regret regarding his contributions to the field.

Similarly, Nobel Prize-winning computer scientist Bengio recently said that he has been surprised by the speed at which Al has evolved and felt 'lost' when looking back at his life's work.

Both have called for international regulations to enable us to keep tabs on the development of Al.

Unfortunately, due to the fast pace at which the tech develops and the opaque 'black box' nature around how much of it operates, it's much more difficult than it sounds.

Although the potential risks of generative Al, whether it's bad actors using it for cybercrime or the mass production of misinformation, have become increasingly obvious, what we should do about them has not. One idea seems to be gathering momentum, though: global Al governance.