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The
technologist-turned-philanthropist said it would be better to
focus on how best to use the developments in AI, as it was hard
to understand how a pause could work globally.
His interview with Reuters comes after an open letter --
published last week and co-signed by Elon Musk and more than
1,000 AI experts – demanded an urgent pause in the development
of systems "more powerful" than Microsoft-backed OpenAI's new
GPT-4, which can hold human-like conversation, compose songs and
summarise lengthy documents.
The experts, including Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, said in
the letter the potential risks and benefits to society need to
be assessed.
“I don’t think asking one particular group to pause solves the
challenges,” Gates said on Monday.
“Clearly there’s huge benefits to these things… what we need to
do is identify the tricky areas.”
Microsoft has sought to outpace peers through
multi-billion-dollar investments in ChatGPT owner OpenAI.
While currently focused full-time on the philanthropic Bill and
Melinda Gates Foundation, Gates has been a bullish supporter of
AI and described it as revolutionary as the Internet or mobile
phones.
In a blog titled "The Age of AI has begun" which was published
and dated March 21, a day before the open letter, he said he
believes AI should be used to help reduce some of the world’s
worst inequities.
He also said in the interview the details of any pause would be
complicated to enforce.
“I don’t really understand who they’re saying could stop, and
would every country in the world agree to stop, and why to
stop,” he said. “But there are a lot of different opinions in
this area.”
(Reporting by Jennifer Rigby; Editing by Josephine Mason and
Bernadette Baum)
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