Government intervention to regulate artificial intelligence (AI) will be “crucial” in order to “limit the risks” associated with this technology, argued Tuesday Sam Altman, the boss of OpenAI, creator of the ChatGPT interface which unleashes passions.
“It is essential that the most powerful AI be developed with democratic values”, estimated the young entrepreneur before an American parliamentary committee, “which means that the leadership of the United States is decisive”.
The launch of ChatGPT, in November, aroused immense interest from the public and companies for so-called generative artificial intelligence, that is to say capable of creating content – text, images, sounds or video – after been trained on huge databases.
“If you were listening from home, you probably thought it was my voice and my words, when it wasn’t my voice or my words,” said Senator Richard Blumenthal, who chairs the subcommittee. of the United States Senate on privacy, technology and the law.
He had just delivered his opening remarks on the dangers of AI, written with ChatGPT and read by software trained on his real voice.
AI technologies “are no longer science fiction fantasies, they are real and present”, he added.
The elected officials debated with the boss of OpenAI and two other experts on the need to regulate computer systems which could “literally destroy our lives”, according to the formula of Senator Lindsey Graham.
Federal permits?
Sam Altman recalled that while OpenAI LP, the entity that developed ChatGPT, is a private company, it is controlled by a non-profit organization which “imposes us to work for the wide distribution of the benefits of AI and to maximize the security of AI-based systems,” he added.
He proposed the creation of a new federal agency, responsible for granting authorizations to organizations that develop AI systems of a certain level, and which “could withdraw them if they do not comply with security standards. “.
“Would you be qualified [pour de telles fonctions] ? asked Senator John Kennedy. “I love my current job,” replied the entrepreneur.
Sam Altman has regularly expressed his support for the establishment of a regulatory framework for artificial intelligence, preferably at the international level.
“I know it seems naive to propose something like that, it seems very difficult” to achieve, but “there are precedents”, he explained, citing the example of the International Agency for atomic energy (IAEA).
The idea of creating a federal agency has aroused some enthusiasm, but it would have to be given sufficient resources, underlined Richard Blumenthal. “And I’m not just talking about dollars, I’m talking about scientific expertise,” he said.
Sam Altman, however, noted the risks associated with too much regulation: “If American industry slows down, China or someone else can progress faster. »
He also insisted that any measures not stifle independent research, and instead focus on dominant companies like his.
Fear of “significant harm” to society
For now, the United States is far from following the path of the European Parliament, which is due to vote next month on new legislation to regulate AI broadly.
The US Congress regularly talks about the need to better protect data privacy and foster more competition on the Internet. But political divisions have blocked most bills for years.
The rapid deployment of generative AI by OpenAI, Microsoft and Google has raised the issue of technology regulation.
Many worry about its potential impact on professionals, from the risk of job cuts to intellectual property theft.
The senators reviewed many areas, such as biased algorithms and the spread of increasingly sophisticated disinformation around election time.
“Artificial intelligence has the potential to improve just about every aspect of our lives,” says Sam Altman, hoping that eventually generative AI will enable humanity to solve “its most important challenges” , such as global warming or cancer.
“But it also creates serious risks,” he acknowledged.
“One of my biggest fears is that we, this industry, this technology, are causing significant harm to society,” he said. “If this technology goes the wrong way, it can go quite far. […] And we want to work with the government to prevent that from happening. »