The UK’s AI Safety Summit closes at the moment, with UK prime minister Rishi Sunak convening a small group of world and business leaders to debate the dangers of AI, however maybe essentially the most stunning improvement is a dialog attributable to happen this night between Sunak and entrepreneur Elon Musk.
Full particulars of the occasion are nonetheless unclear, however will probably be broadcast on X, Musk’s social media platform, on a delay. The dialog is scheduled to final 45 minutes, and reportedly will likely be moderated by an unknown particular person, with some viewers members, together with tech executives and journalists invited to ask questions. Politico experiences that the UK authorities has stated the dialog received’t be edited earlier than broadcast.
So, what’s going to the 2 males discuss? Here are some potential matters:
The threat of AI doom
Even earlier than Musk arrived within the UK, he was warning concerning the dangers of AI. Speaking to podcast host Joe Rogan, he stated that AI improvement wanted to be rigorously completed in order to not pose existential dangers to humanity. It’s a message he repeated as soon as he arrived within the UK, telling reporters he thought AI was an actual threat.
Not everybody is certain the danger dialog will likely be earnestly carried out. “I would speculate that the conversation they have will be framed as a discussion about the merits of AI regulation but in reality it will serve as a stage for these two self-indulgent individuals to flaunt themselves in their aspirational spheres – politics and tech,” says one former Twitter worker who was laid off by Musk, talking to New Scientist anonymously.
Pausing AI improvement
Musk was one of many signatories of a letter calling for a pause in AI improvement printed in March 2023. The letter urged that AI corporations ought to halt for six months any improvement of AI programs extra highly effective than these then cutting-edge – together with OpenAI’s GPT-4 mannequin.
The letter gained consideration, however finally didn’t make a distinction: improvement has continued apace. Yet within the summaries of panel discussions offered on the finish of the primary day of the summit, the concept of a improvement pause was as soon as extra raised – and might be mentioned right here.
China’s position in AI
The significance of China in the way forward for AI improvement is a vital dialogue level – however might be one each males would like to duck.
For Sunak, there’s a want to courtroom Chinese funding and wealth, retaining the nation on-side, whereas additionally avoiding awkward discussions with extra sceptical wings of his Conservative social gathering, who argued towards inviting China to the summit within the first place.
Musk additionally has his personal China difficulty: round one in each eight electrical autos offered in China are made by Musk’s firm, Tesla, whereas the agency operates the largest automobile manufacturing plant on the planet exterior the United States in Shanghai.
A Musk wildcard
One of the challenges of agreeing to a spontaneous dialog with Musk is his notorious unpredictability. Given his business pursuits in electrical autos, house exploration and social media, there’s a chance Musk might ask Sunak to decide to supporting a number of of his companies, or the industries through which they function. Or maybe he’ll simply say no matter occurs to be on his thoughts within the second.
“I’m sure [Musk] will put on his best impression of a reasonable and sagely innovator, but my money is on him dropping enough wild-eyed and attention-grabbing hysteria that Rishi may end up struggling to keep any sort of focus on reality and responsible action,” says Mike Katell from the Turing Institute in London, UK. “Meanwhile, the PM wants so much to look like he’s as cool as the tech bros. But, given his debating partner, I think he’ll be lucky to emerge looking anything other than flat-footed and sycophantic.”
Topics:
Source: www.newscientist.com