Shortly after closing the U.Okay.s landmark AI Security Summit in Bletchley Park, the cradle of recent computing, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak headed again to London to interview tech billionaire Elon Musk. The pair mentioned dangers posed by synthetic intelligence, how governments ought to tackle them, and the way the know-how would possibly influence jobs, with Musk predicting that it might render most roles out of date.
The interview might have been tense, on condition that hours earlier, Musk, who has up to now endorsed the thought of slowing AI improvement to evaluate the dangers, tweeted a cartoon mocking political leaders professing to take dangers from AI critically on the Summit. However the ambiance on the occasion on Thursday evening was amiable, with Sunak thanking Musk for attending the occasion and Musk thanking Sunak for internet hosting it. Im glad to see at this level that persons are taking security critically, and Id prefer to say thanks for holding this AI security convention, stated Musk. I feel truly it can go down in historical past as being crucial, I feel its actually fairly profound.
Sigh pic.twitter.com/jDDTkewbDL
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 2, 2023
When requested by Sunak about how AI will have an effect on jobs, Musk predicted that human labor would develop into out of date. I feel we’re seeing probably the most disruptive power in historical past right here. We may have one thing for the primary time that’s smarter than the neatest human, he stated. There’ll come a degree the place no job is required. You possibly can have a job if you wish to have a job for private satisfaction, however the AI will have the ability to do every little thing.
Sunak expressed discomfort at this concept. Im somebody who believes work provides you which means, the Prime Minister and former funding banker stated. I feel work is an effective factor, it provides individuals function of their lives.
Requested by Sunak what governments ought to be doing to handle and mitigate the dangers of AI, Musk affirmed that authorities intervention can be required, saying that he disagrees with lower than 1% of laws.
Learn extra: Inside Elon Musks Wrestle for the Way forward for AI
Musk has an extended historical past with AI. Together with Sam Altman, he was a founding co-chair of OpenAI and contributed to OpenAIs unique $1 billion of funding. He departed in 2018, citing conflicts of curiosity from his involvement with Tesla. Since then, he has develop into extra essential of the course OpenAI has taken.
Musk has been warning that AI might threaten the survival of the human race for almost a decade, a subject he mentioned with Sunak. Ive been considerably of a Cassandra for fairly some time, he stated.
In July, Musk introduced he was forming xAI to understand reality. In a dialogue streamed on Musks social media platform X, with Congressmen Ro Khanna and Mike Gallagher following xAIs launch, Musk laid out his strategy to AI safetycreating a maximally truth-seeking AI system. From an AI security standpoint, a maximally curious AI, one that’s attempting to grasp the universe, goes to be pro-humanity, he stated on the time. Little extra details about xAI has been made public since then.
Learn extra: What to Know About Elon Musk’s New AI Firm, xAI
Sunak, in the meantime, has for months been urgent for the U.Okay. to play a number one function in worldwide efforts to manage AI. The dialog with Musk comes after Sunak convened world leaders and tech executives over two days in an try to ascertain consensus over the dangers he believes AI poses, and to start to work in the direction of joint options.
Learn extra: U.Okay.s AI Security Summit Ends With Restricted, However Significant, Progress
Some commentators had criticized Sunak for interviewing Musk, who many argue has promoted misinformation and hate speech as proprietor of X, previously Twitter. Sunak quizzed Musk in regards to the unorthodox he has taken to content material moderation on the social media platform, and the entrepreneur defended using crowd-sourced moderation in response. When you empower individuals as censors, theres going to be some quantity of bias they’ve, after which whoever appoints the censors is successfully in charge of data, he stated.
Chinas inclusion within the Summit additionally created some controversy, amid consternation about its human rights document and as rivals within the West have grown involved in regards to the countrys progress on AI. Former Prime Minister Liz Truss had written to Sunak to say that she was deeply disturbed by Chinas inclusion on the summit, on account of Chinas use of AI to curtail freedom. Talking with Musk, Sunak stated that it was not a simple choice, lots of people criticized me for it. Musk praised him for the choice, which he described as important.
