World is ill-prepared for breakthroughs in AI, say experts

The world is ill-prepared for breakthroughs in artificial intelligence, according to a group of senior experts including two "godfathers" of AI, who warn that governments have made insufficient progress in regulating the technology. A shift by tech companies to autonomous systems could "massively amplify" AI's impact and governments need safety regimes that trigger regulatory action if products reach certain levels of ability, said the group. The recommendations are made by 25 experts including Geoffrey Hinton and Yoshua Bengio, two of the three "godfathers of AI" who have won the ACM Turing award – the computer science equivalent of the Nobel prize – for their work. The intervention comes as politicians, experts and tech executives prepare to meet at a two-day summit in Seoul on Tuesday. The academic paper, called "managing extreme AI risks amid rapid progress", recommends government safety frameworks that introduce tougher requirements if the technology advances rapidly.