Elon Musk, a billionaire known for his outspoken views, testified at the US Senate AI hearing on September 13, 2023. At the hearing, Elon Musk's artificial intelligence warning was unequivocal and concise, as he said there are concerns about allowing the AI industry to grow without regulations from the government.
In many countries, innovative industries like crypto face regulations. Elon Musk believes that regulations for the AI sector are even more crucial.
The peak of his highlight came when the Tesla billionaire said there's a chance that AI might destroy the world. While speaking to reporters, Elon Musk said, "There’s some chance – above zero – that AI will kill us all. I think it’s low but there’s some chance. The consequences of getting AI wrong are severe."
Furthermore, he highlighted the importance of the meeting in the future. Be said, the 3-hour Senate hearing will go down in history as "being very important for the future of civilization."
It's crucial to note that Elon Musk is not entirely anti-AI. The tech guru recently launched an artificial intelligence startup, xAI, which he said would be committed to advancing AI in a good way.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer was the one who organized the meeting for the discussion of the benefits and risks of artificial intelligence.
The senator invited high-profile tech billionaires and more than 69 senators to the meeting. As the meeting proceeded, it involved over 9 sessions, and the first was to develop consensus among those attending the conference. Some of those representing AI companies that participated in the meeting were CEOs of Meta, Google, OpenAI, Nvidia, and IBM.
According to a report given by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, most attendees answered with a yes when asked about the regulation of the AI sector. The only thing missing in this case is that the significant details regarding the issue of regulation have not been developed in the meeting. There are still talks about what to include and what not to include as part of the AI regulation.
Thoughts on the Benefits and Risks of Artificial Intelligence
In the meeting, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates spoke about some of the benefits of artificial intelligence. According to his point of view, artificial intelligence has the ability to feed many poor people across the world.
So, the Congress in the meeting wants to ensure they expand on the benefits of AI while simultaneously preventing the risk from causing destruction.
"You want to be able to maximize the benefits and minimize the harm. And that will be our difficult job," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in the meeting.
During the meetings, the labor representatives also raised the issue of AI displacing many humans from their jobs. Furthermore, Washington Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell said AI shouldn't be left out of their devices.
According to this senator, autopiloting in AI should be discarded. Instead, the activities of AI should be steadily monitored.
"I thought Satya Nadella from Microsoft said it best: ‘When it comes to AI, we shouldn’t be thinking about autopilot. You need to have copilots.’ So who’s going to be watching this activity and making sure that it’s done correctly?," Sen. Maria Cantwell said.