Some in Silicon Valley Are Questioning the Calls for an A.I. Slowdown
The debate over the safety of artificial intelligence grew personal as key tech leaders said calls for government regulation were self-serving and misplaced.
The debate over the safety of artificial intelligence grew personal as key tech leaders said calls for government regulation were self-serving and misplaced.
It took just a few hours over the weekend for well-known Silicon Valley figures to push back on calls by leading artificial intelligence companies to slow down the development of A.I. and to more tightly regulate the technology.
On Saturday, Dario Amodei, Anthropic’s chief executive, said in an essay that A.I. was advancing too quickly for researchers to continue building it safely. He proposed that independent auditors monitor A.I. labs’ safety work and that regulators allow the labs to work together to coordinate safety standards.
Although they appeared to differ on what should be done about it, Sam Altman, OpenAI’s chief executive; Elon Musk, SpaceX’s chief executive; and Demis Hassabis, Google DeepMind’s chair, all said they agreed on the need for a slower pace.
But other technology industry leaders were quick to question Dr. Amodei’s motivations and whether he was sensationalizing the risks of A.I. to make it harder for other companies to compete with leading A.I. companies.
“Stop pretending the motivation to slow down is purely altruistic,” said David Sacks, a technology adviser for President Trump and the White House’s former A.I. and crypto czar, in a social media post.
The criticism of the calls for a slowdown highlighted a deep divide between people who believe the government should police A.I. and others who believe regulatory intervention would crush competition.
