Reijer Passchier discusses the risks of artificial intelligence
Reijer Passchier, Assistant Professor of Constitutional and Administrative Law, recently published a statement entitled 'The AI Safety Summit at Bletchley Park Asked the Wrong Questions' in the International Journal of Social Quality.
On 1 and 2 November 2023, politicians, scientists and leaders of tech companies gathered at the Bletchley Park country estate in the UK to discuss the risks of artificial intelligence (AI). The main focus points were disinformation, cyber attacks and the (probably slim) chance that AI will soon go beyond a 'frontier' and threaten life as we know it.
As often happens at these events, the real issues with AI went undiscussed: power to control this promising technology is usually in the hands of a small number of very large commercial giants (Maslej et al., 2023), where only a few CEOs and major shareholders call the shots. As property owners of AI with the necessary infrastructure, these companies almost unilaterally decide which AI applications are developed, at what pace, the acceptable risks that the process involves, the values AI should serve and under which conditions others are allowe to use AI. Their own private interests (and delusions, for that matter) are usually paramount in these decisions, and not so much public interest.
'How did we end up in this "feudal" situation?' Reijer asks.
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Read the full article in the International Journal of Social Quality
Photo: Julien Tromeur through Unsplash