Mark Zuckerberg's Plan to Develop Advanced AI Raises Concerns Among Experts

Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, has faced criticism for his commitment to building a powerful Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) system, a move deemed by experts as potentially "very scary" due to concerns about the responsible development and regulation of such advanced AI technology. Zuckerberg announced Meta's intention to construct an AGI system and expressed the possibility of making it freely available to the public.

In a Facebook post, Zuckerberg outlined the company's plan to pursue the development of AGI, an AI system capable of performing tasks at a level matching or surpassing human intelligence. The Meta CEO stated that the next generation of technology services necessitates the creation of full general intelligence. Zuckerberg revealed Meta's consideration of making the AGI system open source, accessible to developers outside the company and the public. He emphasized the importance of making this technology widely available, drawing a parallel with Meta's Llama 2 AI model, which is currently open source.

Experts are worried about open-sourced AI

The prospect of open sourcing AGI has raised concerns among AI experts and researchers. According to a report from The Guardian, Dame Wendy Hall, a computer science professor at the University of Southampton and a member of the UN's advisory body on AI, expressed unease, calling it "really very scary" and labelling Zuckerberg's consideration as irresponsible. She emphasized the potential for harm if such powerful AI technology falls into the wrong hands.

Hall stressed the urgency of developing regulatory systems for AI, asserting that the responsible progression of this work is a matter of public safety. While acknowledging that the achievement of AGI is likely years away, she emphasized the need for regulatory frameworks to be in place.

Should tech giants have so much power?

Meta, previously among the tech firms at a global AI safety summit in the UK committing to government oversight of AI tools, now faces scrutiny for the potential implications of open sourcing AGI. Dr. Andrew Rogoyski, a director of the Institute for People-Centred AI at the University of Surrey, argued that decisions about AGI should be made through international consensus, rather than by a single tech giant.

Zuckerberg's announcement has reignited debates about the responsible development, deployment, and regulation of powerful AI systems, prompting calls for a careful and collaborative approach to avoid unintended consequences.