Treat AI as a new species that could disempower us all, warns whistleblower

Google DeepMind safety team researcher Josh Engels quit to join the non-profit METR, warning that AI should be treated as a "second species" with alien values that could disempower humanity, in a BBC interview reported Sunday. Engels' warning followed Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon's claim that AI firms including Anthropic and OpenAI are "gambling with our lives," and came as UK MPs and peers prepared to call Monday for a new AI Bill banning uses such as crime-risk profiling and powerful systems like Artificial General Intelligence and Artificial Superintelligence. The King will host an AI summit at Dumfries House in Ayrshire this week, and industry figures predicted last week a 10 per cent chance of AI killing all humans in the next decade.

Treat AI as a new species that could disempower us all, warns whistleblower - See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred Source https://google.com/preferences/source?q=dailymail.com Artificial intelligence /sciencetech/ai/index.html should be treated as a new species with alien /news/aliens/index.html values that humans may not be able to control, a research scientist insists. 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 /sciencetech/google/index.html DeepMind's safety team to join a non-profit organisation, METR, that is looking into the threat posed by AI. He warned on Sunday: '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 /news/bbc/index.html , he added there were many ways in which an artificial species could 'disempower humanity'. Whistleblower Jacob Coxon warned that AI companies are 'gambling with our lives' 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 on Sunday: 'If we don't slow down at the current rate of progress, there is a strong chance that we could all die in the immediate future.' Others in the industry predicted last week that there is a 10 per cent chance of AI killing all humans in the next decade. In the wake of their warnings, bosses of the leading AI firms called at the weekend for the pace of development to slow. This week, the King will host a summit of key figures in AI at Dumfries House, in Ayrshire, at which he will ask them to use the tech 'for the good of humanity'. A royal source said: 'He hopes the discussions bring about a wider understanding of the responsibilities of developing this technology, as well as the opportunities, ensuring any technological development remains centred around human benefit.' MPs and peers will on Monday call for the Government to introduce a new AI Bill to tackle the threats it poses to human rights. The law should set up a regulatory regime that puts more obligations on riskier systems, the Joint Committee on Human Rights said. It wants some uses of AI to be banned outright, including profiling to predict the risk of an individual committing a crime, which featured in the sci-fi film Minority Report. The committee said: 'This would mean the provision of very powerful AI systems such as Artificial General Intelligence and Artificial Superintelligence which risk causing widespread and very serious harm, including the capacity to evade effective human control, would be prohibited.'