According to Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, calls to block the advancement of artificial intelligence won't address complex difficulties that may arise in the future. This was his first public statement following an open letter that sparked a debate on the topic.
The technologist-turned-philanthropist suggested that since it was impossible to imagine how a worldwide pause may work, it would be wiser to concentrate on harnessing AI advancements.
According to an open letter published last week and co-signed by Elon Musk and more than 1,000 AI experts, the development of systems "more powerful" than Microsoft-backed (MSFT.O) OpenAI's new GPT-4, which can hold human-like conversations, compose music, and summarize lengthy documents, was urgently halted.
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According to Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, the letter from the experts highlighted the need to assess the potential risks and benefits for society.
"I don't think asking one particular group to pause solves the challenges," Gates said on Monday.
"Clearly there's huge benefits to these things… what we need to do is identify the tricky areas."
Microsoft has invested billions of dollars in OpenAI, the company that owns ChatGPT, in an effort to outperform competitors.
Despite focusing solely on the humanitarian Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation at the moment, Gates has been an ardent supporter of AI and has compared it to the Internet or mobile phones in that it is transformational.
In a blog post titled "The Age of AI has begun", which was published and dated March 21, Bill Gate expressed his belief that AI should be used to help eliminate some of the worst inequities in the world.
He claimed during the interview that it would be challenging to implement the specifics of any pause.
He added that he doesn't really understand who they're saying could stop. He wondered whether every country would agree to stop, and if yes, why? According to Bill Gates, there are a lot of different opinions in this area.