Connor Leahy suggests major tech companies are trying to influence or control government leaders’ meetings
An executive invited to Rishi Sunak’s upcoming international AI safety summit has expressed concerns about the event’s potential effectiveness. Connor Leahy, the CEO of Conjecture, an AI safety research company, believes that powerful tech firms are attempting to exert undue influence on this pivotal gathering, potentially allowing the unbridled development of highly advanced AI with nearly limitless capabilities. Leahy is among a select group of 100 attendees, including foreign government officials, tech leaders, and civil society representatives, who will participate in the summit scheduled for November at Bletchley Park. The UK government hopes this event will mark a turning point in the development of advanced AI technology.
Officials have released a summit agenda highlighting the importance of “responsible capability scaling,” which suggests that companies should develop advanced models while adhering to a set of guidelines. However, Leahy and others argue for a complete halt in the development of artificial general intelligence—AI models capable of human or superhuman intelligence-level tasks.
Leahy expressed, “The primary purpose of responsible scaling is to establish a framework that creates the appearance of action, allowing politicians to claim they’ve taken steps. In reality, the policy remains insufficient.”
Leahy and his peers have initiated a campaign called “Control AI,” aiming to encourage policymakers to go a step further and utilize the Bletchley Park summit to impose a temporary halt on the development of the most advanced AI forms. Similar to some within the industry, Leahy is concerned that humanity is at risk if we create an AI system that learns to operate beyond human control.
He emphasized, “If we construct systems that surpass humans in manipulation, business, politics, science, and every other domain, without effective control, then the future may be shaped by these systems rather than by us.
AI companies and related organizations are making efforts to dominate the summit and secure an unregulated status quo, potentially leading to a perilous race,” he further remarked.
Leahy referenced a recent interview with Dario Amodei, the CEO of the AI company Anthropic, who suggested that the likelihood of an AI system causing catastrophic consequences “on the level of human civilization” ranged from 10% to 25%.
In response, Leahy advised, “If you are in the process of developing a machine with such a probability, my recommendation is not to proceed.
Geoffrey Hinton, often referred to as the “godfather of AI,” left Google recently to raise concerns about what he termed the “existential risk” presented by digital intelligence.
Shortly thereafter, a group of senior AI industry executives, including Leahy, issued a succinct statement stating, “Addressing the threat of AI-induced extinction should be a global priority, on par with other societal-scale risks like pandemics and nuclear war.”
Such cautionary statements prompted Sunak to convene the summit scheduled for November 1-2. This gathering is intended to serve as a platform for heads of state and technology leaders to engage in face-to-face discussions on these matters for the first time.
British officials have been actively engaging with leaders worldwide, encouraging their participation in the conference, with the hope that it will be the first of a series of similar summits.
Eric Schmidt, the former CEO of Google, and Mustafa Suleyman, co-founder of Inflection and DeepMind, have recently advocated for the establishment of a global panel of AI experts, similar to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. UK authorities express their support for such an initiative but believe that the precise details of its operation should be addressed through UN discussions.
Instead, UK government sources are hopeful that the AI industry will demonstrate any indication of slowing down its pursuit of artificial general intelligence, an action unparalleled in the history of technology.
Leahy, on the other hand, contends that vague commitments to proceed with the responsible development of advanced AI would not suffice, asserting that this approach would represent a victory for tech companies over regulators.
A government spokesperson stated, “The AI safety summit aims to convene a diverse array of participants, including international governments, academia, industry, and civil society, as part of a collaborative effort to drive focused and expeditious international measures for the safe and responsible advancement of AI.
