Financial Times columnist urges public role in AGI decisions

In short: A Financial Times opinion column argues that society should have more say in how advanced AI is developed and used, instead of treating it as inevitable.

What's going on

Financial Times columnist John Thornhill writes that many discussions inside the tech world assume artificial general intelligence, or AGI, is coming soon. AGI is a proposed kind of AI that could match humans at most thinking tasks, like having a machine that can do any office job as well as a person.

He says this belief is spreading among some high-profile leaders. The column points to comments from Demis Hassabis of Google DeepMind, who wrote that AGI feels close, and to Elon Musk, who has suggested AI could exceed total human intelligence within about five years.

Thornhill argues that this “we cannot stop it” mood is leaving many people feeling powerless. He says companies are making big choices based on speculative stories about the future, while the public is mostly dealing with today’s issues like jobs, energy use, and trust.

The column cites the AI Now Institute, which has criticized AGI as a loosely defined idea. It also says many researchers doubt that simply making today’s chatbots bigger will automatically lead to AGI.

What to watch

Thornhill’s main message is that people should not be “passengers in the back seat” while a few companies steer. He argues that governments, regulators, labor unions, and civil society groups should play a stronger role in setting rules for how AI is deployed, meaning where it is used and under what limits.

Source: Financial Times