So far, the biggest critics of generative AI have been the artists whose work was lifted to train the algorithm. Now, major companies are also sounding the alarm.
Two of the biggest companies in Japan are warning we’re heading towards a collapse of democracy and social order if generative AI isn’t controlled.
The biggest telecommunications company and the biggest newspaper in Japan issued a manifesto calling for authorities to implement guardrails to AI – especially US authorities.
From a WSJ report:
“Nippon Telegraph and Telephone, or NTT, and Yomiuri Shimbun Group Holdings made the proposal in an AI manifesto to be released Monday. Combined with a law passed in March by the European Parliament restricting some uses of AI, the manifesto points to rising concern among American allies about the AI programs U.S.-based companies have been at the forefront of developing.
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. Unless AI is restrained, “in the worst-case scenario, democracy and social order could collapse, resulting in wars,” the manifesto said. It said Japan should take measures immediately in response, including laws to protect elections and national security from abuse of generative AI.”
The EU law referenced by WSJ is both a landmark legislation and a series of already outdated measures. The EU AI Act will come into effect two years from now, and will ask companies to be more transparent about how their technology works.
In an interview with MIT Technology Review, one of the politicians behind the AI Act, Dragos Tudorache, said “there’s going to be a lot of building the plane while flying” when it comes to AI legislation.
He’s referencing the fact that the legislation in its current form has a lot of loopholes, including ways for companies to ‘police’ themselves.
Follow TechTheLead on Google News to get the news first.
