Is It Time To Hit ‘Pause’ on Artificial Intelligence Research?

“We call on all AI labs to immediately pause for at least 6 months the training of AI systems more powerful than GPT-4,” reads an open letter organized by the Future of Life Institute and endorsed by over 27,000 signatories, including Elon Musk and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak. 

Since the publication of the letter on March 22, the White House has summoned the leaders of the nation’s top artificial intelligence companies for a discussion about regulation. Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer (D–N.Y.) is “taking early steps toward legislation to regulate artificial intelligence technology,” according to reporting from Axios. Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, the company responsible for ChatGPT, has said that optimizing artificial intelligence for the good of society “requires partnership with government and regulation.”

But economist Robin Hanson worries that too much of today’s fear of artificial intelligence is a more generalized “future fear” that will imperil technological progress likely to benefit humanity.

“Most people have always feared change. And if they had really understood what changes were coming, most probably would have voted a