Pause Giant AI Experiments
In plain wordsA 2023 open letter, signed by tens of thousands of people including prominent technologists, that asked AI labs to halt the training of any AI more capable than GPT-4 for at least half a year.
An open letter, published by the Future of Life InstituteFuture of Life Institute, prop. n.: An advocacy group that warns about the dangers of advanced AI and other powerful technologies, funds research and lobbies governments. It organized the 2023 open letter calling for a pause on giant AI experiments. on 22 March 2023, that asked every AI laboratory to stop training anything more capable than GPT-4GPT-4, prop. n.: OpenAI's 2023 language model, a big step up from the one behind the first ChatGPT. It scored well on many professional and academic exams and could also read images. at once and for no less than six months, and urged governments to step in with a moratorium if the labs refused. Its argument was that competition was pushing laboratories to build ever larger systems faster than anyone, their makers included, could understand or keep in check. The authors wanted the time spent agreeing on common safety protocols, verified by outside experts, and on policy measures they listed, among them liability for harms, auditing, watermarkingAI watermarking, n.: Hiding an invisible signal in AI-generated text, images, audio or video so that software can later tell the content was made by AI — like a banknote's watermark, but undetectable to the eye. and provenance systems, and regulators devoted to AI. Early signatories included Yoshua BengioYoshua Bengio, prop. n.: A Canadian computer scientist who helped found deep learning, including ideas behind today's language models, and who has become a leading voice on the risks of advanced AI., Stuart RussellStuart Russell, prop. n.: A British computer scientist who co-wrote the standard AI textbook and argues that AI must be redesigned to stay uncertain about what humans want, so that it remains under human control., Elon MuskElon Musk, prop. n.: A South African-born American entrepreneur who runs Tesla and SpaceX, co-founded OpenAI, founded the AI company xAI, and has long warned that AI could endanger humanity., Steve Wozniak and Yuval Noah Harari; signatures eventually exceeded 30,000. No major laboratory paused, but the letter moved catastrophic AI risk into mainstream news and policy debate.
The pause letter failed in its stated aim but succeeded in starting the argument.
Origin
Drafted by the Future of Life Institute and released eight days after GPT-4's launch. Critics included researchers who said it exaggerated speculative risks while neglecting present harms, and others, such as Eliezer YudkowskyEliezer Yudkowsky, prop. n.: An American writer and AI theorist who, from around 2000, argued that superhuman AI would likely destroy humanity unless its goals were made safe, and who founded an online community devoted to rational thinking., who argued that it did not go nearly far enough.
Usage note
Not to be confused with the Statement on AI RiskStatement on AI Risk, prop. n.: A one-sentence public statement from May 2023, signed by hundreds of leading AI scientists and company heads, declaring that guarding against the chance of AI wiping out humanity should rank as a priority for the whole world. (May 2023), a one-sentence statement about extinction risk. See also AI pauseAI pause, n.: A proposed halt, temporary or indefinite, on building AI systems more powerful than today's, to give safety research and regulation time to catch up..
Related
- AI pauseAI pause, n.: A proposed halt, temporary or indefinite, on building AI systems more powerful than today's, to give safety research and regulation time to catch up.
- Statement on AI RiskStatement on AI Risk, prop. n.: A one-sentence public statement from May 2023, signed by hundreds of leading AI scientists and company heads, declaring that guarding against the chance of AI wiping out humanity should rank as a priority for the whole world.
- Future of Life InstituteFuture of Life Institute, prop. n.: An advocacy group that warns about the dangers of advanced AI and other powerful technologies, funds research and lobbies governments. It organized the 2023 open letter calling for a pause on giant AI experiments.
- Asilomar AI PrinciplesAsilomar AI Principles, prop. n.: A list of 23 guidelines for safe and beneficial AI drawn up at a 2017 conference in California and signed by thousands of researchers and public figures.
- existential riskexistential risk, n.: A danger that could end humanity, or shut it out of a good future forever. Some experts count advanced AI among the largest such risks; others think this worry is overblown.
- GPT-4GPT-4, prop. n.: OpenAI's 2023 language model, a big step up from the one behind the first ChatGPT. It scored well on many professional and academic exams and could also read images.
Sources
- Future of Life Institute (2023). Pause Giant AI Experiments: An Open Letter. 22 March 2023.
Mentioned in
Elon MuskElon Musk, prop. n.: A South African-born American entrepreneur who runs Tesla and SpaceX, co-founded OpenAI, founded the AI company xAI, and has long warned that AI could endanger humanity., AI pauseAI pause, n.: A proposed halt, temporary or indefinite, on building AI systems more powerful than today's, to give safety research and regulation time to catch up., Future of Life InstituteFuture of Life Institute, prop. n.: An advocacy group that warns about the dangers of advanced AI and other powerful technologies, funds research and lobbies governments. It organized the 2023 open letter calling for a pause on giant AI experiments., Max TegmarkMax Tegmark, prop. n.: A Swedish-American physicist at MIT who co-founded the Future of Life Institute, which organized the 2023 open letter calling for a pause in training the most powerful AI systems., Statement on AI RiskStatement on AI Risk, prop. n.: A one-sentence public statement from May 2023, signed by hundreds of leading AI scientists and company heads, declaring that guarding against the chance of AI wiping out humanity should rank as a priority for the whole world., Asilomar AI PrinciplesAsilomar AI Principles, prop. n.: A list of 23 guidelines for safe and beneficial AI drawn up at a 2017 conference in California and signed by thousands of researchers and public figures., Open Letter on Artificial IntelligenceOpen Letter on Artificial Intelligence, prop. n.: A 2015 open letter, signed by Stephen Hawking, Elon Musk and many leading AI researchers, urging that AI research aim not only at making systems more capable but also at making them safe and beneficial., PauseAIPauseAI, prop. n.: A volunteer protest movement, begun in 2023, that pickets AI companies and lobbies governments for a worldwide treaty halting work on AI more advanced than today's best until it is proven safe., Statement on SuperintelligenceStatement on Superintelligence, prop. n.: A 2025 public statement, signed by scientists, celebrities and politicians, calling for a ban on building superintelligent AI until it is shown to be safe and the public supports it.