Related Press [18]
What the OpenAI drama means for AI progress — and safety
“The push to retain dominance is leading to toxic competition. It’s a race to the bottom,” says Sarah Myers West, managing director of the AI Now Institute, a policy-research organization based in New York City.
Nature
Nov 23, 2023
The AI safety summit, and its critics
Amba Kak of the AI Now Institute, one of the few representatives of civil society at last week’s summit, said at the event’s conclusion that “we are at risk of further entrenching the dominance of a handful of private actors over our economy and our social institutions.”
Politico
Nov 8, 2023
Global leaders commit to pre-deployment AI safety testing
bal leaders commit to pre-deployment AI safety testing AI Now Institute executive director Amba Kak, one of three civil society representatives at the summit table, praised pre-deployment testing commitments, but warned, "We are at risk of further entrenching the dominance of a handful of private actors over our economy and our social institutions."
Axios
Nov 3, 2023
Global leaders commit to pre-deployment AI safety testing
AI Now Institute executive director Amba Kak, one of three civil society representatives at the summit table, praised pre-deployment testing commitments, but warned, "We are at risk of further entrenching the dominance of a handful of private actors over our economy and our social institutions."
Axios
Nov 3, 2023
U.K.’s AI Safety Summit Ends With Limited, but Meaningful, Progress
“There has been a complete industry capture of this conversation, and in many ways this summit reflects that,” says Amba Kak, the executive director of the AI Now Institute, a research group.
Time
Nov 2, 2023
U.K.’s AI Safety Summit Ends With Limited, but Meaningful, Progress
“There has been a complete industry capture of this conversation, and in many ways this summit reflects that,” says Amba Kak, the executive director of the AI Now Institute, a research group. “The context to all of this is that we’re seeing a further concentration of power in the tech industry and, within that, a handful of actors. And if we let industry set the tone on AI policy, it’s not enough to say we want regulation—because we’re going to see regulation that further entrenches industry interests.”
Time
Nov 2, 2023
Stop talking about tomorrow’s AI doomsday when AI poses risks today
Letters written by tech-industry leaders are “essentially drawing boundaries around who counts as an expert in this conversation”, says Amba Kak, director of the AI Now Institute in New York City, which focuses on the social consequences of AI.
Nature
Jun 27, 2023
The AI apocalypse: Imminent risk or misdirection?
Discussions about artificial intelligence (AI) have quickly turned from the excited to the apocalyptic. Are warnings that AI could pose an existential threat valid, or do they distract from the real danger AI is already causing?
Al Jazeera
Jun 10, 2023
Does artificial intelligence pose the risk of human extinction?
Tech industry leaders issue a warning as governments consider how to regulate AI without stifling innovation.
Al Jazeera
Jun 1, 2023
AI risks leading humanity to ‘extinction,’ experts warn
Meredith Whittaker, president of the encrypted messaging app Signal and chief adviser to the AI Now Institute, a nonprofit group devoted to ethical AI practices, mocked the statement as tech leaders overpromising their product.
NBC News
May 30, 2023
Sam Altman sells superintelligent sunshine as protestors call for AGI pause
People like Altman “position accountability right out into the future,” Sarah Myers West, managing director of the AI Now institute, told The Verge last week. Instead, says West, we should be talking about current known threats created by AI systems — from faulty predictive policing to racially biased facial recognition to the spread of misinformation.
The Verge
May 24, 2023
OpenAI’s Altman Wants International Body Akin To Nuclear Watchdog IAEA To Regulate AI
"It doesn't sound like the kind of hearing that's oriented around accountability," said Sarah Myers West, managing director of the AI Now Institute.
IB Times
May 23, 2023
Experts say AI poses ‘extinction’ level of risk, as Congress seeks legislative response
Amba Kak and Sarah Myers West, two former FTC officials, said in a report published last month that the FTC has existing authority relating to antitrust and consumer harm to regulate the fast-growing artificial intelligence tech sector even without new legislation.
Roll Call
May 1, 2023
OpenAI’s chief scientist helped to create ChatGPT — while worrying about AI safety
But others say that focusing on how to control yet-to-arrive AI systems distracts from the real and present dangers of the technology. It “puts intervention way off on the horizon”, says Sarah Myers West, managing director of the AI Now Institute, a policy-research organization in New York City. Instead, she says, we need “to tackle near-term harms”, such as AI systems reinforcing biases in their training data, or potentially leaking private information.
Nature
Apr 13, 2023
500 Top Technologists and Elon Musk Demand Immediate Pause of Advanced AI Systems
"But here’s what’s key to understand about Chat GPT and other similar large language models: they’re not in any way actually reflecting the depth of understanding of human language—they’re mimicking its form.”
Gizmodo
Mar 29, 2023
Elon Musk and several other technologists call for a pause on training of AI systems.
“By focusing on hypothetical and long-term risks, it distracts from the regulation and enforcement we need in the here and now,” Myers West said.
NBC News
Mar 29, 2023
Sam Altman says ‘potentially scary’ AI is on the horizon. This is what keeps AI experts up at night
Sarah Myers West, Managing Director of the AI Now Institute, told Euronews Next that "in many senses, that’s already where we are," with AI systems already being used to exacerbate "longstanding patterns of inequality".
EuroNews
Feb 28, 2023
Mental health service criticised for experiment with AI chatbot
The experiment “raises significant ethical and moral concerns”, says Sarah Myers West at the AI Now Institute, a research center in New York City."
New Scientist
Jan 10, 2023