Open letter calling for AI ‘pause’ shines light on fierce debate around risks vs. hype

A new open letter calling for a six-month “pause” on large-scale AI development beyond OpenAI’s GPT-4 highlights the complex discourse and fast-growing, fierce debate around AI’s various stomach-churning risks, both short-term and long-term.

Critics of the letter — which was signed by Elon Musk, Steve Wozniak, Yoshua Bengio, Gary Marcus and several thousand other AI experts, researchers and industry leaders — say it fosters unhelpful alarm around hypothetical dangers, leading to misinformation and disinformation about actual, real-world concerns. Others pointed out the unrealistic nature of a “pause” and said the letter did not address current efforts towards global AI regulation and legislation.