Musk, Pals Want Pause In AI Development

Elon Musk and a group of artificial intelligence experts and industry executives are calling for a six-month pause in developing systems more powerful than OpenAI's newly launched GPT-4, in an open letter citing potential risks to society and humanity, Jyoti Narayan, Krystal Hu, Martin Coulter and Supantha Mukherjee reported for Reuters.

Photo Insert: Critics said Musk wants to get back at OpenAI for beating him at his hyping game and he seeks the help of the state to prevent OpenAI from beating him some more as the GPT AI program advances.

Earlier this month, Microsoft-backed OpenAI unveiled the fourth iteration of its GPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer) AI program, which has wowed users with its vast range of applications, from engaging users in human-like conversation to composing songs and summarizing lengthy documents.

Critics said Musk wants to get back at OpenAI for beating him at his hyping game and he seeks the help of the state to prevent OpenAI from beating him some more as the GPT AI program advances.

The letter, issued by the Musk-funded non-profit Future of Life Institute and signed by more than 1,000 people including Musk, called for a pause on advanced AI development until shared safety protocols for such designs were developed, implemented and audited by independent experts.

"Powerful AI systems should be developed only once we are confident that their effects will be positive and their risks will be manageable," the letter said. Musk offered to lead the OpenAI when he was a shareholder of the company, but founder Sam Altman and other stockholders rejected his unsolicited offer.

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