Elon Musk and other tech experts call for ‘pause’ on advanced AI systems
Over 1,000 tech researchers and executives, including Elon Musk, have called for a six-month “pause” on the development of advanced AI systems such as OpenAI’s GPT to halt what they are calling a “dangerous” arms race.
Other well-known signatories include Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, author Yuval Noah Harari, as well as researchers across leading tech companies, including Microsoft, Apple, Google, Amazon and Meta.
An open letter published this week by the Future of Life Institute, received over 1,100 signatures across the tech landscape from academia to executives, within hours of its publication.
It states, “we call on all AI labs to immediately pause for at least six months the training of AI systems more powerful than GPT-4. This pause should be public and verifiable, and include all key actors. If such a pause cannot be enacted quickly, governments should step in and institute a moratorium”.
It also calls for the creation of industry-wide safety protocols audited by independent experts to ensure systems are “safe beyond a reasonable doubt”.
It is also noted that the intervention comes as governments are rushing to formulate responses to the rapidly evolving field and as some big tech companies are cutting back their AI ethics teams.
Reactions to the letter have been mixed, Cornell University’s professor James Grimmelmann pointed out Musk’s previous opposition to accountability for Tesla’s self-driving AI. While Gary Marcus, a professor at New York University who signed the letter said; "The letter isn't perfect, but the spirit is right: we need to slow down until we better understand the ramifications."
Reuters reported Microsoft declined to comment on the letter, and Alphabet did not respond to calls and emails for a comment from the news agency.
Twitter announces legacy verified accounts to lose their blue tick on 1 April – unless they pay up
Twitter has announced that starting 1st April, individuals or organisations that received the verified ‘blue tick’ before Elon Musk took over Twitter will lose it, unless they apply and pay to join the verified programme.
The announcement follows the launch of Twitter’s ‘Blue’ subscription service that allows individuals and organisations to pay for blue ticks regardless of whether or not they are notable or have a large following. Blue is touted as a premium service that surfaces subscribers’ content to a wider audience and gives them additional features not available to all users. To date, only about 1.5% of the legacy verified Twitter accounts have paid to subscribe to Twitter Blue.
At the moment, Twitter’s announcement raises a lot of questions without answers: will blue ticks be removed overnight? Will verified accounts ‘play ball’ or will a majority forfeit their tick? Will Musk reverse the decision if this happens? Could this be an elaborate April Fool’s joke?
Chinese tech giant Alibaba to be overhauled and split into six businesses
Chinese tech giant Alibaba has announced plans to split itself into six independently run companies covering: a Cloud Intelligence Group, Taobao Tmall Commerce Group, Local Services Group, Cainiao Smart Logistics, Global Digital Commerce Group, and a Digital Media and Entertainment Group.
The announcement came shortly after founder Jack Ma's surprise return to China after almost a year in exile. Mr Ma stepped back from the company’s helm in 2019 after the Chinese government launched a major regulatory crackdown on the tech industry. The move is being seen as a way to proactively placate regulators, and a sign that the crackdown is now over and the company once again feels able to focus on its future.
Each new business group would be allowed to raise external capital and seek initial public offerings. They would also have their own CEO reporting to a board of directors and be fully responsible for the group’s performance.
Alibaba Group, once valued at more than $800 billion but now worth about a quarter of that, is set to become a holding company overseen by current CEO Daniel. Zhang. Hong Kong-listed shares of Alibaba surged 15% on the day after the announcement, and 14% in New York.
Adobe publishes generative AI beta – Firefly
Adobe launches beta of Firefly, its generative AI model focused on commercial use.
Firefly has been trained to be safe for commercial use, potentially avoiding some of the legal challenges other AI companies are facing – the first models of Firefly have been trained on Adobe Stock images, openly licensed content, and public domain content where copyright has expired.
Adobe will also introduce a “Do Not Train” tag for creators who do not want their content used in AI model training - the tag will remain associated with content wherever it is used, published or stored.
Adobe Firefly will be integrated directly into Creative Cloud, Document Cloud, Experience Cloud and Adobe Express workflows.
