Another warning about the AI apocalypse? I don’t buy it | Ivana Bartoletti

Yes, there are sobering risks, but also potential for huge advances. We need to agree some global rules of the game

AI tools like ChatGPT are everywhere. It is the combination of computational power and availability of data that has led to a surge in AI technology, but the reason models such as ChatGPT and Bard have made such a spectacular splash is that they have hit our own homes, with around 100 million people currently using them.

This has led to a very fraught public debate. It is predicted that a quarter of all jobs will be affected one way or another by AI and some companies are holding back on recruitment to see which jobs can be automated. Fears about AI can move markets, as we saw yesterday when Pearson shares tumbled over concerns that AI would disrupt its business. And, looming above the day-to-day debate are the sometimes apocalyptic warnings about the long-term dangers of AI technologies - often from loud and arguably authoritative voices belonging to executives and researchers who developed these technologies.

Ivana Bartoletti is a privacy and data protection professional, visiting cybersecurity and privacy fellow at Virginia Tech and founder of the Women Leading in AI Network