Speaking on the Rest Is Politics podcast, computer expert Arvind Narayanan said the only way the advancement of AI could be stopped was with an ‘authoritarian world government’
An expert has warned about “killer robots” amid the rise of AI usage. With access to software capable of programming much easier these days, it’s not just governments and scientists who can use the tech, said computer specialist Arvind Narayanan on the Rest Is Politics podcast earlier this week.
Fears have risen about the rate in which AI’s abilities have increased exponentially the last few years – and pretty much anyone can use it these days, for good and for bad. Podcast host Rory Steward quizzed Narayanan on the risks of having such widespread use normalised.
“The only way to stop AI now is having an authoritarian world government that can control every AI developer,” the lecturer replied. “The cost of running these language models which control AI is dropping rapidly every year which means that pretty much anyone can use the machinery.”
He added: “When OpenAI built GPT2, which was two generations before ChatGPT [the one the world knows], they thought that model was so dangerous that they weren’t going to release it for people to download.
“And that’s something that tech students can build themselves, with a day or two of training.
“I don’t think there’s any clear relationship between the power of an AI model and what dangerous things it’s capable of doing, like enabling a cyberattack.”
Rory Stewart replied: “So, this is a ‘cat is out the bag’ argument’. It’s too late. The stuff is built. If these models are going to become deceptive killer robots, they’re already out there and there’s nothing we can do about it.”
Narayanan replied: “It’s not just that, you can’t even prevent these models from getting any better in the future – unless you have an authoritarian world government that stops small teams of developers from acquiring consumer-grade hardware.”
It comes after Dr. Who star David Tennant said he was “terrified” about the impact artificial intelligence will have on the television industry.
The actor, 54, also warned job losses are inevitable as the technology reshapes the profession.
Speaking at the Royal Television Society’s Cambridge Convention, the Scot warned AI posed a particular threat to those trying to break in to the industry.
David admitted when asked if he feared AI’s influence: “Oh, terrified about it, of course. I’m sure there will be very exciting things that will happen and I’m sure there will be very chilling things that will happen.”
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