The Debate on Halting AI Development: Bill Gates Rejects 'Pause'

Today:

Bill Gates Rejects 'Pause' On AI, Suggesting It's Impractical

Bill Gates, former Microsoft CEO and billionaire, has rejected the idea of a pause on artificial intelligence (AI) development, proposed by more than 1,000 AI experts including Elon Musk. Gates stated that a pause would not “solve the challenges” ahead and instead suggested focusing on how to best use developments in the field and “identify the tricky areas.” Gates did not understand how a pause could be enforced, considering the global investment in AI. Microsoft has invested $10 billion in OpenAI, and Gates called it the “most important advance” since computers and smartphones.

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Expedia Releases ChatGPT-Powered AI Chatbot on Mobile App

Expedia, the largest online travel agency in the West, has launched a beta version of a travel chatbot powered by OpenAI's ChatGPT on its mobile app. The tool is separate from the virtual agent that the app already had and will help users plan their trips by answering general questions about destinations or travel ideas. The tool automatically saves recommended hotels, and users can click on the saved items to check availability for booking. However, the tool doesn't yet offer real-time information about pricing and events.

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Can Turnitin Cure Higher Ed's AI Fever?

Turnitin, a provider of plagiarism detection software for universities, has developed an artificial intelligence (AI) tool called Originality, which aims to detect if essays have been written by a machine. However, the new technology has raised concerns among faculty members, who worry that the rapid rollout of Originality doesn't give instructors enough time to prepare pedagogically or technically. There are also concerns about the tool's ability to detect Bard, Google’s new generative AI, and the pace of AI evolution, which could make any marketed solution obsolete.

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AI Is Getting Powerful. But Can Researchers Make It Principled?

The rapidly evolving field of artificial intelligence (AI) has raised concerns about the potential harm caused by algorithms, especially as AI technology is widely used in decision-making processes. Researchers are working to make these systems more ethical and safe, with fairness and transparency becoming major issues. Companies that build AI-centered products are beginning to eliminate harms, but they tend to offer little transparency on their efforts. One area of concern is social media apps that use AI algorithms, which have been linked to the spread of toxic content that harms children. The nature of the problems with AI is also changing, with many researchers warning about future threats that could pose global catastrophic dangers.

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AI: Tech Companies Must Ensure Product Safety, Says Biden

US President Joe Biden has called on technology companies to ensure the safety of their products before they are released to the public, as he convened his council of science and technology advisers amid growing concerns regarding artificial intelligence (AI). The meeting included executives from Microsoft and Google, the two rivals currently locked in a competition over AI chatbots. Biden said on Tuesday that "it remains to be seen" whether AI is dangerous. This came amid growing global discomfort with the revolutionary AI chatbot, with widening probes and calls for caution. Italy became the first Western country to temporarily block the chatbot, citing data privacy concerns.

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The Call to Halt 'Dangerous' AI Research Ignores a Simple Truth

A proposed six-month moratorium on the "dangerous" AI race is both unrealistic and unnecessary, according to an article published in MIT Technology Review. The call for a pause on AI work is not only vague but also unfeasible, the article states. Instead, researchers and developers should improve transparency and accountability and develop guidelines for the deployment of AI systems, it adds. Companies developing AI models must also allow for external audits of their systems and be held accountable to address risks and shortcomings, the article argues. Finally, the article states that AI developers and researchers can start establishing norms and guidelines for AI practice by listening to the many individuals who have been advocating for more ethical AI for years.

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Several Chinese AI Experts Back Call by Musk and Others for a Pause in Rapid Development of ChatGPT Technologies

A group of AI experts from China and Hong Kong have joined calls from global tech veterans to halt the development of artificial intelligence more advanced than GPT-4, because they believe that the pace of progress is too fast. Microsoft-backed OpenAI's AI-powered chatbot, ChatGPT, which uses the GPT-4 language model, has caused concern among signatories to the Future of Life Institute's open letter. Cai Hengjin, a professor at the Artificial Intelligence Research Institute at Wuhan University, believes the advancement of AI has exceeded expectations, and that there are concerns about the security challenges that AI could bring.

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Calls to Regulate AI are Growing Louder. But How Exactly Do You Regulate a Technology Like This?

Calls for regulating artificial intelligence (AI) are getting louder, but there is little agreement on how to regulate the technology. Australia has taken a light touch, relying on the concept of responsible AI without setting specific parameters to ensure it is achieved, while the US has not shown urgency in AI regulation. The EU is leading the way with the proposed Artificial Intelligence Act, which will assign risk categories to AI applications and set legal requirements for high-risk applications. While some argue the EU approach will stifle innovation, it offers predictability while keeping pace with AI development. AI’s full potential may be hindered by excessive regulation, though there is increasing demand for more oversight by citizens.

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Here's How Many U.S. Workers ChatGPT Says It Could Replace

Challenger, Gray & Christmas, an outplacement and executive coaching firm, asked OpenAI's ChatGPT how many American workers it could replace. The answer: 4.8 million jobs. Although the technology is currently being used to support workers, concerns about job displacement by large language models (LLMs) and chatbots remain. ChatGPT predicts that it could replace workers in roles that are repetitive and predictable, such as customer service representatives, technical writers, translators, copywriters, and data entry clerks. However, the technology may also create new jobs, such as prompt engineers who are hired to train LLMs.

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How to Become an Expert on AI

Are you feeling left behind in the world of artificial intelligence (AI)? Fear not! On Tech: A.I. is a pop-up newsletter that provides information about AI and chatbots in just five days. This weeklong series covers big themes and questions surrounding A.I. including chatbots, neural networks, generative A.I., and large language models. Each day, readers receive a quiz and a homework assignment. This week's assignments include signing up for chatbots, asking them to write a cover letter for your dream job, and discussing developments in A.I. with the editors. Remember, A.I. may not be as powerful as it seems, but it is still an exciting technology with immense potential.

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AI Is Running Circles Around Robotics

Despite the hype around AI, progress in robotics lags behind, as machines that can interact with the physical world through motion and perception struggle to make headway. The lack of funding and resources, and the difficulty of obtaining data for robots, are some of the reasons behind the lag. It is difficult to obtain enough raw material to train robots in machine-learning techniques because the required data is not as readily available as the vast amounts of text used to train AI. Researchers face the challenge of gathering data for robots via robots, which is a circular process as you need good data to make a fairly advanced robot, and vice versa. Overall, the progress made in AI in recent years has outstripped that of robotics.

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"Too Real" : AI-Generated Images Of Ramayana Characters Impress Internet

Artificial intelligence (AI) art is trending on social media, with Sachin Samuel impressing the internet by creating Ramayana character sketches with the help of the AI tool Midjourney. Samuel shared the portraits of beloved characters from the Indian epic on his LinkedIn account, explaining his fascination with the story and its heartwarming and tear-jerking villains. Meanwhile, artist Jyo John Mulloor shared AI-generated images of animals taking selfies on Instagram. AI technology has advanced to the point where it can create any image with little effort, thanks to various applications and software.

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AI Deepfake Video Stars Harry Potter Characters in a Controversial Fashion Brand's Show... and Even Elon Musk Is Taken Aback

A YouTuber using generative artificial intelligence programs to create deepfakes has gained viral attention for reimagining Harry Potter characters in a Balenciaga fashion show. The channel, Demonflyingfox, has nearly 60,000 subscribers and has caught the eye of Elon Musk, who recently urged a stop to advanced AI development. Despite potential concerns about deepfakes, Aviv Ovadya, an internet platform and AI expert, said it is likely that people will be able to create compelling content using prompts and simple feedback within the next five years.

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Google Says Its AI Supercomputer is Faster, Greener Than Nvidia A100 Chip

Google has released new details about the supercomputers it uses to train its AI models, claiming that its custom-designed Tensor Processing Unit (TPU) is faster and more power-efficient than comparable systems from Nvidia. Google has published a scientific paper detailing how it has strung over 4,000 of the chips together into a supercomputer using its own custom-developed optical switches to help connect individual machines. Google said its chips are up to 1.7 times faster and 1.9 times more power-efficient than Nvidia's A100 chip, which was on the market at the same time as the fourth-generation TPU.

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China's Tech Old Guard Make Way for Young Blood in AI

China's tech industry faces a generational shift as the country navigates a crackdown on the industry by Beijing and seeks to boost the economy through the digital sector. Justin Sun, founder of cryptocurrency network Tron, represents a new wave of Chinese entrepreneurs that focus on AI and cryptocurrencies instead of traditional sectors such as e-commerce and finance. Sun believes these fields have unlimited potential for growth, and with his company's headquarters in Singapore, he has also become a "global citizen". However, regulatory risks still loom, as demonstrated by the SEC's recent fraud and market manipulation charges against Sun and three of his companies.

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