'Father of the Internet' Cerf: "Don't Recklessly Invest in AI"

Legendary US Computer Scientist Vint Cerf
"Technology Is Imperfect"... Warning Against Excessive Investment

Vint Cerf, the legendary American computer scientist who contributed to the birth of the Internet, warned on the 13th (local time) against excessive investment in artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots. He pointed out that AI technology is still incomplete.

At a venture capital (VC) conference held in Mountain View, California, Cerf said, according to Yonhap News, "Do not rush to invest in chatbot AI just because it is a hot topic."

He explained, "There are ethical issues to consider," adding, "Everyone talks about ChatGPT or Google AI, but we know well that they do not always work the way we want."

Cerf’s remarks appear to be in reference to Google's AI 'Bard,' a competitor to ChatGPT. Google demonstrated Bard for the first time on the 8th, but it faced humiliation as it gave incorrect answers from the start, causing its stock price to plunge nearly 9% during trading hours.

Vint Cerf, Vice President at Google and Chief Internet Evangelist. / Photo by Yonhap News

Cerf emphasized, "You must always be wary of the temptation to invest just because something is 'cool' when it doesn’t even work properly," and added, "We need to think deeply, and we cannot predict what will happen in the future."

He also shared his personal experience using chatbot AI. Cerf said, "When I asked (the AI) to write an autobiography about me, it gave a plausible answer that included inaccurate information," pointing out, "There is a gap between fluently expressed answers and facts."

He reiterated, "Engineers have an obligation to find ways to minimize the damage that technology can cause," and "We must minimize the possibility of things going to the worst."

He warned, "The problem is people," adding, "Not to mention the past 4,000 years, even in the past 400 years, people have not changed. They will seek their own interests rather than the public good."

Meanwhile, Cerf is a scholar who graduated from the prestigious Stanford University and developed the communication protocol 'Internet Protocol Suite,' which is the core of information transmission between computers today.

He founded the Internet Society in 1992 and served as its first chairman until he stepped down in 1999. He is a figure who was involved from the birth to the early days of the Internet and is nicknamed the 'Father of the Internet' in the United States.

Currently, he serves as Vice President and 'Chief Internet Evangelist' at the major American internet company Google.