Prof Yann LeCun, one of the pioneers in the field of AI, has dismissed concerns that AI will dominate the world or lead to permanent job losses, calling such fears “utterly absurd,” reported BBC.
According to a BBC report, Prof Yann LeCun believes that although there may come a time in the future when computers surpass human intelligence, that is still far off, and he emphasized that if it is deemed unsafe, it simply should not be developed.
In a recent interview with the BBC, a government advisor from the UK suggested that certain highly advanced artificial intelligence systems might require prohibition.
Prof Yann LeCun, who, along with Geoffrey Hinton and Yoshua Bengio, was awarded the Turing Award in 2018 for their groundbreaking contributions to AI, currently serves as the chief AI scientist at Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. In contrast to his fellow pioneers, Prof LeCun holds a differing viewpoint and does not perceive AI as a threat to humanity.
“Will AI take over the world? No, this is a projection of human nature on machines” he said. It would be a huge mistake to keep AI research “under lock and key”, LeCun adds.
Prof LeCun contended that individuals who expressed concerns about the potential risks of AI were driven by their inability to envision how AI could be effectively rendered safe.
“It’s as if you asked in 1930 to someone how are you going to make a turbo-jet safe? Turbo-jets were not invented yet in 1930, same as human level AI has not been invented yet. Turbo jets were eventually made incredibly reliable and safe, and the same would happen with AI,” he stated.
The report from BBC suggests that Meta has established a significant AI research initiative with the objective of developing intelligent systems that match the capabilities of humans. In addition to conducting research, the company employs AI technology to assist in identifying detrimental content on social media platforms.
During a press event, Prof LeCun discussed his work in the field of Objective Driven AI, which strives to create secure systems with the ability to remember, reason, plan, and possess common sense—qualities that are currently absent in widely used chatbots like ChatGPT.
Reportedly, according to Prof LeCun, it is indisputable that AI will eventually exceed human intelligence. However, he acknowledged that researchers still lack crucial concepts necessary to achieve such a milestone, which could take numerous years, if not decades, to accomplish. When individuals express apprehensions about future machines operating at or beyond human-level capabilities, they are alluding to artificial general intelligence (AGI)—systems capable of solving a broad spectrum of problems, akin to human beings.
When questioned by BBC News, Prof LeCun explained that the progress in AGI development would be gradual, potentially reaching a level of intelligence comparable to that of a rat’s brain. He emphasized that such an AI system would still operate within a controlled data center environment and could be deactivated if necessary. Prof LeCun further emphasized that if it is deemed unsafe, the logical course of action would be to refrain from its construction altogether.
Updated: 16 Jun 2023, 01:45 PM IST