Human-level AI is on the way: Sam Altman at Davos
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has addressed concerns regarding AI systems like ChatGPT and Google's Bard. Speaking at a panel discussion called 'Technology in a Turbulent World' during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Altman acknowledged the unease people feel toward AI companies. He said, "We have our own nervousness, but we believe that we can manage through it and the only way to do that is to put the technology in the hands of people."
Altman proposes co-evolution of society and technology
To tackle AI-related worries, Altman suggested a solution where society and technology grow together, using a tight feedback loop and course correction. He explained, "Let society and the technology co-evolve and sort of step by step with a very tight feedback loop and course correction, build these systems that deliver tremendous value while meeting safety requirements." This approach aims to develop AI systems responsibly while providing value to users.
AI's impact on jobs and future human-like reasoning
Regarding AI's impact on jobs, Altman believes humans will work at a higher level of abstraction, making decisions that lean more toward curation over time. He also hopes that future AI systems will be able to explain their reasoning behind specific responses, similar to humans. "I think our AI systems will be able to explain to us in natural language the steps from A to B, and we can decide whether we think those are good steps," Altman said.
OpenAI is part of the AGI race
Altman's reassurance comes at a time when the quest to bring Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) to the market first, has heated up among tech firms. In fact, in early 2023, the OpenAI top boss had claimed that "AGI has been achieved internally." So, what is AGI? It is an artificial intelligence capable of creative thought and reasoning just like humans. Using it, software with the ability to self-teach could be made. A game-changer but a cause of worry indeed.
Here's what Altman had to say about AGI
Talking about AGI at the event, Altman said, "As the world gets closer to AGI (Artificial General Intelligence that could learn tasks that humans can perform), the stress will go up." He believes companies should spend more time thinking about "how all strange things can go wrong." Speaking to Bloomberg at the conference, he also claimed AGI could become live in the "reasonably close-ish future," but "will change the world much less than we all think."
