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Two top Japanese companies issued a manifesto on Monday calling for new laws to restrain generative artificial intelligence (AI), warning that without them democracy and social order could collapse.
Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT), Japan’s largest telecommunications company, and Yomiuri Shimbun Group Holdings, owner of Japan’s biggest newspaper, are pushing for more regulation of AI following European lawmakers creation of the first comprehensive set of rules for artificial intelligence.
In their manifesto, the Wall Street Journal reports, the companies warn that without some form of restraint being placed on AI, “in the worst-case scenario, democracy and social order could collapse, resulting in wars.”
The companies are requesting that action be taken in the form of laws to protect elections and national security from being abused by generative AI.
The Japanese companies’ manifesto, while pointing to the potential benefits of generative AI in improving productivity, took a generally skeptical view of the technology. Without giving specifics, it said AI tools have already begun to damage human dignity because the tools are sometimes designed to seize users’ attention without regard to morals or accuracy.
NTT and Yomiuri Shimbun Group Holdings’ concerns about generative AI are not unwarranted.
Last month, Ray Kurzweil, a Google AI specialist, predicted that AI will match or overtake human intelligence by the year 2029.
In February, Dr. Roman V. Yampolskiy, artificial intelligence safety expert and associate professor at the University of Louisville, warned that AI can’t be controlled and could lead to humanity’s extinction.
“Why do so many researchers assume that AI control problem is solvable? To the best of our knowledge, there is no evidence for that, no proof. Before embarking on a quest to build a controlled AI, it is important to show that the problem is solvable,” he said.
“This, combined with statistics that show the development of AI superintelligence is an almost guaranteed event, show we should be supporting a significant AI safety effort.”
Also in February, AI chatbots disturbingly went for the nuclear option multiple times in United States military wargames simulations simply because they had the option to do so.
Study after study and expert after expert have detailed the very real threats artificial intelligence poses to humanity.
While governments like the United States, the United Kingdom and Japan are setting up guidelines for major AI companies to follow, who is going to stop those with nefarious intentions? Laws certainly won’t stop them, especially if AI is running its own show.