Meta CEO criticized as ‘irresponsible’ for contemplating open-sourcing human-level intelligence tools
Mark Zuckerberg faces allegations of irresponsible AI development as he pledges to create a potent system equivalent to human intelligence. The Facebook founder contemplates making this system freely available to the public.
The Meta CEO declares the company’s intention to construct an artificial general intelligence (AGI) system, with plans to open-source it, extending accessibility to developers beyond Meta. Zuckerberg emphasizes making the system “as widely available as we responsibly can.”
In a Facebook post, Zuckerberg asserts that the evolution of tech services necessitates the construction of comprehensive general intelligence.
AGI is a term without strict definition, typically denoting a theoretical AI system capable of performing diverse tasks at or surpassing human intelligence levels. Experts and global politicians express concern over the potential emergence of AGI, fearing its potential to elude human control and pose a threat to humanity, either as a single system or through a combination of multiple AGI systems.
Zuckerberg affirmed Meta’s contemplation of open-sourcing its AGI, making it freely accessible for developers and the public, similar to the company’s Llama 2 AI model.
He stated, “This technology is so important and the opportunities are so great that we should open source and make it as widely available as we responsibly can, so everyone can benefit.”
Dame Wendy Hall, a computer science professor at the University of Southampton and a member of the UN’s AI advisory body, expressed deep concern about the idea of open-sourcing AGI, deeming it “really very scary” and finding Zuckerberg’s consideration of it irresponsible. She emphasized the potential harm in releasing such powerful AI systems before establishing proper regulations.
Hall further commented, stating, “Fortunately, I believe achieving such an aspiration [AGI] in any meaningful way is still many years away. This allows us time to establish regulatory systems. However, progressing this work urgently is a matter of public safety.”
Meta, along with other tech firms, participated in a global AI safety summit in the UK last year, committing to allowing governments to scrutinize AI tools before and after their release.
A UK-based expert expressed that entrusting the decision to open-source an AGI system solely to a tech company is inappropriate. Dr. Andrew Rogoyski, Director of the Institute for People-Centred AI at the University of Surrey, emphasized that decisions of this magnitude should be made through international consensus, not within the boardroom of a tech giant.
In an interview with the tech news website the Verge on Thursday, Zuckerberg conveyed his inclination toward open sourcing as long as it remained sensible and aligned with the principles of safety and responsibility.
Meta’s decision last year to open source Llama 2 faced criticism from experts, including Hall, who likened it to “giving people a template to build a nuclear bomb.”
California-based OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, is also in the process of developing AGI, defining it as “AI systems that are generally smarter than humans.” Demis Hassabis, the head of Google’s AI division, Google DeepMind, has mentioned that AGI could be less than a decade away.
OpenAI’s CEO, Sam Altman, expressed a note of caution at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, this week, stating that further progress in AI would be unattainable without a breakthrough in energy provision, such as nuclear fusion.
Zuckerberg refrained from specifying a timeframe for the development of an AGI system. However, he alluded to Meta’s substantial investment in infrastructure to facilitate the creation of new AI systems, including a substantial order of AI processing chips. Additionally, Zuckerberg mentioned that Meta is actively working on a sequel to Llama 2.
