Hedge fund manager Bill Ackman is warning that a push by Elon Musk, Steve Wozniak and other tech and artificial intelligence experts to pause development of AI systems for six months gives the "bad guys" time to catch up.
Ackman, who founded Pershing Square Capital Management, made the remark after more than 1,000 people signed a letter arguing that safety protocols need to be developed by independent overseers to guide the future of AI systems.
"Shutting down AI development for six months gives the bad guys six more months to catch up. Our enemies are working hard to develop their own @OpenAI," Ackman tweeted.
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"It would have been a mistake to delay the Manhattan Project and let the Nazis catch up," he added. "I don’t think we have a choice."
The letter asks AI developers to "immediately pause for at least 6 months the training of AI systems more powerful than GPT-4."
GPT-4 is the latest deep learning model from OpenAI, which says it "exhibits human-level performance on various professional and academic benchmarks."
The letter warns that at this stage, no one "can understand, predict, or reliably control" the powerful new tools developed in AI labs. The undersigned tech experts cite the risks of propaganda and lies spread through AI-generated articles that look real, and even the possibility that Ai programs can outperform workers and make jobs obsolete.
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Around 300 million full-time jobs could be affected by AI and its ability to replicate basic workplace tasks, according to a new report written by Goldman Sachs economists. They also estimated that 7% of the current U.S. workforce could also become replaced by AI.
Examples of industries that face the biggest risk of replacement include office and administrative support, legal, architecture and engineering, business and financial services and sales, according to the research.
"AI labs and independent experts should use this pause to jointly develop and implement a set of shared safety protocols for advanced AI design and development that are rigorously audited and overseen by independent outside experts," the letter states.
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"In parallel, AI developers must work with policymakers to dramatically accelerate development of robust AI governance systems."
Notably absent from the letter's signatories was Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI.
FOX Business’ Chris Pandolfo and Kristen Altus contributed to this report.
