Posting names like President Xi Jinping without verification
Some researchers also point out... "Intent is suspicious"
A public letter released last month, calling for a temporary halt to the development of cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) systems, signed by Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, and many global IT business leaders and experts, has become embroiled in controversy. Some of the signatures on the letter were revealed to be fake, and even the original authors of the papers cited as evidence of AI development risks criticized the letter as an overstatement.
According to the British daily The Guardian and others on the 1st (local time), among the approximately 1,800 signatures on the letter, which was drafted under the leadership of the U.S. nonprofit organization Future of Life Institute (FLI) and made public on the 22nd of last month, some were later found to be 'fake.' Names of individuals who had never agreed to the letter’s content, such as Chinese President Xi Jinping and Yann LeCun, Meta’s chief scientist, were included. In particular, LeCun publicly opposed the letter’s content via Twitter, stating he did not support it.
The Guardian explained that this issue likely arose because sufficient verification of the signatories’ identities was not conducted before the letter’s release. The letter called for a six-month pause in the development of AI systems that surpass GPT-4, the latest large language model (LLM) developed by OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT. It argued that AI development should be halted until humanity can control the risks posed by large AI systems through a joint safety agreement.
However, some original authors of the papers and research materials cited in the letter to demonstrate the dangers of advanced AI criticized FLI’s intentions behind these claims as suspicious.
Margaret Mitchell, a former Google employee and currently the chief ethics scientist at AI research startup Hugging Face, pointed out that the letter did not even specify what exactly constitutes 'AI surpassing GPT-4,' which it targeted for development suspension. She criticized, "This letter treats many dubious ideas as facts and promotes AI-related narratives that benefit FLI’s sponsors." This has been interpreted as an argument that if the letter’s proposals were realized, the Musk Foundation, a major FLI sponsor, would relatively benefit.
In addition to Mitchell, at least three original authors of the research cited in the letter have reportedly expressed opposition to the temporary halt of AI development. Siri Dori-Hacohen, an assistant professor at the University of Connecticut, pointed out, "AI can sufficiently exacerbate various risks such as climate change and nuclear war without reaching human-level intelligence, and these problems are already a reality. Stopping the development of AI surpassing GPT-4 now is meaningless."
In response to such criticism, FLI co-founder Max Tegmark stated, "Just because we cite someone does not mean they support the letter or that we fully agree with their opinions." He also said, "It’s really laughable that some say Elon Musk is trying to slow down competition," clarifying that Musk was not involved in drafting the letter.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
