Scientists are developing Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems that could be compared to a "digital brain" and surpass human intelligence. Kevin Baragona, founder of DeepAI, warns that the rapid development of superhuman intelligence systems will usher in a new kind of future that should terrify us. Baragona, a veteran in the generative AI world, believes that advanced generative AI systems - interconnected machine learning tools that can be used to produce art, music, and even ideas - are comparable to "growing a digital brain". He warns that the technology is developing "too fast for its own good" and that we may get to a point where we no longer understand AI, a grim vision of the future.
Baragona warns that the battlelines are being drawn, with two warring camps inside the big tech industry: "Team Accelerate" and "Team Regulation". He believes that AI systems are advancing so rapidly that they are showing signs of surpassing human-level performance and quality, and that they pose an existential threat to humanity.
Baragona's creation, DeepAI, is more harmless, helping "naturally creative humans" with a text-to-image generator and advanced AI chatbots. However, he calls for other rapidly developing AI software to be outlawed, such as deep fakes that clone people's voices and faces, and have no good reason to exist.
Baragona argues that we need leading AI experts to come to the table and agree, including other countries, especially China, to mitigate the risk of extinction from AI that should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks, such as pandemics and nuclear war. He believes that the hope was to cause a six-month wave of disruption to give humanity a break to act, but it was a radical approach that got people interested.
In conclusion, AI technology is developing too fast and there is zero regulation. Baragona loves this technology, but people play with this stuff that's so powerful because they can, and that's what makes it too powerful. The threat to our shared future that these superhuman AI systems pose is what's keeping Baragona up at night.