Artificial intelligence (AI) should be treated as a new species with alien values that humans may not be able to control, a research scientist insists, writes Martin Beckford.
In the latest alarm about the rapidly advancing technology, whistleblower Josh Engels says AI has the potential to pose “very large risks to humanity”.
He has quit Google DeepMind’s safety team to join a non-profit organisation, METR, that is looking into the threat posed by AI.
He warned yesterday: “I think in some ways it’s better to think of it not as a technology but as a second species that we are almost giving birth to. And think that soon we will inhabit Earth with entities that are much, much smarter than us.
“I’m worried that if we don’t have the ability to ensure they have our best interests in mind, there’s no guarantee humans will keep control of the future.”
In an interview with the BBC, he added there were many ways in which an artificial species could “disempower humanity”.
Asked why it would want to do so, he replied: “I think we don’t really have a way right now of shaping these systems. They have these alien values that we don’t understand.
“It’s not that these systems will hate humanity. It’s just that they have alien motivations that don’t have humans front and centre.”
His comments on the risk of a “takeover” follow those of researcher Jacob Coxon, who quit leading AI firm Anthropic, warning that it and rival OpenAI are “gambling with our lives”.
Mr Coxon told the BBC yesterday:...
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