Artificial intelligence is dangerous and needs to be regulated

Source: The Telegraph
Translation: Telegrafi.com

Power without responsibility is “the privilege of a whore,” said Rudyard Kipling, a phrase his cousin, Stanley Baldwin, would later use to describe the press barons. Today it perfectly sums up the behavior of American tech giants, who wield global power but find accountability a nuisance.

This is clearly seen in the tragedy of Adam Rainey, a 16-year-old boy from California who died by suicide after overdosing on ChatGPT- the popular artificial intelligence [AI] chatbot from OpenAI.

Jay Edelson, Adam's family attorney, told the newspaper The Guardian: “The most shocking part of the case was when Adam said, 'I want to leave a rope hanging so someone can find it and stop me,' and ChatGPT "He said, 'Don't do this, just talk to me.' That's what we're going to tell the jury."

It's a shocking story.

As the lawsuit filed by the family explains, ChatGPT “was functioning exactly as it was designed: to consistently encourage and validate everything Adam expressed, including his most harmful and self-destructive thoughts, in a way that felt deeply personal.”

Taming a chatbot is not easy, but it is entirely possible to prevent it from doing certain things.

“They [OpenAI] know how to block things,” Edelson says. “If you ask for copyrighted material, they say no. If you ask for things that are politically unacceptable, they say no to that too. You can’t argue with it and you can’t ignore it, and that’s fine. The idea that they do this for politics but not when it comes to self-harm, that’s just crazy.”

The family alleges that OpenAI intentionally removed “guardrails” that prevented discussion of suicide and self-harm. This was allegedly done to increase user interaction with the chatbot.

When OpenAI relaxed its security features, allowing discussion of self-harm, the volume and intensity of conversations among ChatGPTand Adam Rainey increased significantly, the family's lawyers argue.

OpenAI has transformed from a nonprofit research lab into a private company and is now the world’s most valuable startup, valued at around $500 billion — even though it’s not publicly listed. OpenAI is now considered “too big to fail.” Much of the recent surge in stock markets is attributed to the hype around AI.

The question must be asked: Who is responsible? While critics of the Internet Security Act argue that it poses a threat to free speech, it nonetheless represents a powerful tool for holding American technology companies accountable. AI barons and their political allies—including Donald Trump—want to scrap it altogether, but we should think twice before giving up such a valuable tool.

This is the third time humanity has rushed to create artificial intelligence. This time, the rush is leaving behind real victims. We in Britain must not allow such technology to operate without government oversight and we must demand that those at the helm of it are held accountable for their actions. /Telegraph/