AI will be uploaded to weapon system causing mass destabilization

First, Gladstone AI said, the most advanced AI systems could be weaponized to inflict potentially irreversible damage. Second, the report said there are private concerns within AI labs that at some point they could “lose control” of the very systems they’re developing, with “potentially devastating consequences to global security.”

“The rise of AI and AGI [artificial general intelligence] has the potential to destabilize global security in ways reminiscent of the introduction of nuclear weapons,” the report said, adding there is a risk of an AI “arms race,” conflict and “WMD-scale fatal accidents.”

Gladstone AI’s report calls for dramatic new steps aimed at confronting this threat, including launching a new AI agency, imposing “emergency” regulatory safeguards and limits on how much computer power can be used to train AI models.

“There is a clear and urgent need for the US government to intervene,” the authors wrote in the report.

Harris, the Gladstone AI executive, said the “unprecedented level of access” his team had to officials in the public and private sector led to the startling conclusions. Gladstone AI said it spoke to technical and leadership teams from ChatGPT owner OpenAI, Google DeepMind, Facebook parent Meta and Anthropic.

“Along the way, we learned some sobering things,” Harris said in a video posted on Gladstone AI’s website announcing the report. “Behind the scenes, the safety and security situation in advanced AI seems pretty inadequate relative to the national security risks that AI may introduce fairly soon.”

Gladstone AI’s report said that competitive pressures are pushing companies to accelerate development of AI “at the expense of safety and security,” raising the prospect that the most advanced AI systems could be “stolen” and “weaponized” against the United States.

The conclusions add to a growing list of warnings about the existential risks posed by AI – including even from some of the industry’s most powerful figures.

Nearly a year ago, Geoffrey Hinton, known as the “Godfather of AI,” quit his job at Google and blew the whistle on the technology he helped develop. Hinton has said there is a 10% chance that AI will lead to human extinction within the next three decades.

Hinton and dozens of other AI industry leaders, academics and others signed a statement last June that said “mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority.”

Business leaders are increasingly concerned about these dangers – even as they pour billions of dollars into investing in AI. Last year, 42% of CEOs surveyed at the Yale CEO Summit last year said AI has the potential to destroy humanity five to ten years from now.

In its report, Gladstone AI noted some of the prominent individuals who have warned of the existential risks posed by AI, including Elon Musk, Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan and a former top executive at OpenAI.

Some employees at AI companies are sharing similar concerns in private, according to Gladstone AI.