ChatGPT boss calls for rules on artificial intelligence

2023-05-16 21:47:00, Tech CNA

Sam Altman, chief executive of OpenAI, the company that owns ChatGPT, told US lawmakers that setting rules for artificial intelligence is essential.

Lawmakers voiced their concerns about AI developments as US Senator Richard Blumenthal opened the session with a computer-generated voice that sounded remarkably similar to his own as he read a text created by ChatGPT.

"If you've been listening to us at home, you might have thought that's my voice and those were my words, but actually the voice wasn't mine," Blumenthal said.

Artificial intelligence technologies “are more than research experiments. They are no longer fantasy, they are real and present," said Blumenthal.

Altman testified before a Senate subcommittee and called on the U.S. Congress to enact new tech regulations, despite years of deep political divisions that have blocked legislation aimed at regulating the Internet.

But governments around the world are under pressure to act quickly after the release of ChatGPT, which can produce human-like content, which has also sparked fears among users.

Altman has since become the global face of artificial intelligence, warning that artificial intelligence can have negative effects on society.

"OpenAi was founded on the belief that artificial intelligence has the potential to improve almost every aspect of our lives, but it also creates serious risks," Altman told the Senate.

He insisted that for now, the technology developed by OpenAi will " address some of humanity's greatest challenges, such as climate change and curing cancer."

However, given the risk of misinformation and other problems, "we think that governments should step in by putting in place regulations that would be essential to reduce these risks from increasingly powerful models," he said.

Altman suggested that the US government could consider imposing licensing and testing conditions before powerful AI models are brought to market, and authorities could also have the power to revoke operating licenses if rules are broken.

He also recommended that there be greater global coordination for setting rules on the technology, but also for the creation of an agency in the US that would deal with artificial intelligence.

Senator Blumenthal said Europe has already started work on artificial intelligence legislation, which is expected to be voted on next month in the European Parliament.

Under this legislation, if approved, artificial intelligence systems that make biometric observations or have the ability to recognize emotions could be banned in the EU.

US lawmakers also said they want to put special transparency measures in place for ChatGPT and similar models, such as notifications to users that the output they're being offered has been created by a machine./REL