The Drum

The letter, titled "Pause giant AI experiments" and published on March 22 by the Future of Life Institute, a nonprofit organization concerned with mitigating existential risks facing humanity – and especially such risks associated with AI – makes the case that AI research is outpacing our ability to implement protective guardrails. Leading AI companies have become engaged in a dangerous arms race, the authors of the open letter argue, inexorably leading the world to "ever more powerful digital minds that no one – not even their creators – can understand, predict, or reliably control." The letter urges caution, as opposed to a careless march into a potentially dangerous future: "powerful AI systems should be developed only once we are confident that their effects will be positive and their risks will be manageable," the authors write. The letter also entreats "all AI labs to immediately pause for at least six months the training of AI systems more powerful than GPT-4." As of Monday morning, the letter has received more than 3,100 signatures.