Several big names from the world of technology gathered yesterday for a closed summit with members of the US Senate. The topic of this high-level meeting was artificial intelligence.
At a closed meeting with several US senators yesterday, a number of technology industry giants discussed the risks, benefits and challenges that AI can bring. It was also discussed what steps could be taken towards more regulation. In addition to the senators and technology leaders, many people from other sectors were also present, such as representatives from education and various unions as well as civil rights activists.
Attendance list
The meeting was organized by Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer and is being… AI Insight Forum. The participants on the tech side could almost form a comprehensive Mount Rushmore of today’s techies:
- Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft
- Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta
- Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI
- Elon Musk, owner of X and founder of Tesla
- Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia
- Eric Schmidt, former CEO of Google
- Deborah Raji, researcher at Berkley University
- Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet (Google)
- Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft
- Arvind Krishna, CEO of IBM
The collection is reminiscent of the open letter from a few months ago, in which several top names from the tech world jointly warned about the dangers of AI.
Terminator scenario
The quote of the day came as little surprise from Musk, who then told reporters that AI could still pose a threat to humanity. He believes that the chance that technology will kill us all is very small, just over zero percent.
However, Musk did not limit himself to bold statements, but also made a realistic contribution. He advocates a separate US federal agency for AI, an AI referee, so to speak. However, Musk added that the American government must first properly master the concept of AI before embarking on comprehensive regulation.
An open source
Another aspect that has caused discussion is open source AI technology. Some participants are concerned about the freedom this offers to anyone who wants and can work with it. This means that mega-investments are no longer required to properly train these systems.
This can make it easy for people with malicious intent to misuse the technology. For example, the Center for Humane Technology has already found a way to make Meta’s Lama-2 model produce a dangerous biological compound. According to Zuckerberg, this information can already be found openly online and he emphasizes that his company is keeping the model as secure as possible. The Meta CEO believes that open source ensures democratic access to AI.
Jobs and the truth in danger
There can be no discussion about AI without raising concerns about the technology making human workers obsolete. Altman, for example, also warned about this in the recent past.
Given the writers’ strike in film country, this is of course a very current topic. Also present at the summit was Meredith Stiehm, CEO of the Writers Guild of America.
In addition, deepfakes and the possible risks for next year’s American presidential election were also discussed. AI can play a dangerous role in this Fake news.
Positive input
Not only were there doomsday reports, Gates spoke, for example, about the role that AI can play in combating world hunger.
He also emphasizes afterwards X once again that AI can also offer many advantages.
Role of government
According to event organizer Schumer, everyone in attendance agreed that the government must do its part to regulate AI. Everyone present raised their hands in agreement, the senator said.
This could be partly due to the realization that there will always be companies that do not strive for safe and responsible AI. The consensus is that government regulation is therefore necessary. This confirms another statement from Musk that it was a civil discussion between some of the smartest people in the world.
However, some senators were critical, saying the closed-door meeting was more of a favor for the top people in the tech world. Republican Josh Hawley even called it a cocktail party for Big Tech.