Leaders of AI Companies Call for Caution at the Security Council

In an extraordinary session of the UN Security Council held on Wednesday, Sam Altman, CEO of "Open AI" developer of "Chat GPT", said that "this moment requires careful attention".

He warned that as AI systems' capabilities and autonomy increase, they may develop at a faster pace than institutions can keep up with or become concentrated in the hands of a limited number of parties.

Altman was among a group of prominent figures in this sector, who briefed the Council on AI developments, amid recent concerns about this technology getting out of control and calls to slow down its development.

Altman told the 15-nation Council, "This sector should not accept an excessive amount of technological risk just because the benefits are so great and important that they do not allow for slowing down".

Amodei followed by saying that his company realizes that as AI models become more powerful, "there will be a need for stricter safety standards", stressing that Anthropic's goal is to improve its ability to prevent the misuse of this technology.

Amodei said in a video call, "We will slow down as much as necessary to make sure that every new generation of AI technology we release is actually safe."

The list of speakers before the Security Council on Wednesday included Clement Doulange of "Hanging Face" company, which was recently attacked by an independent program developed by "Open AI", at the beginning of a series of incidents that raised the alarm about this rapidly evolving technology.

Altman stressed on Wednesday that his company will try as much as possible to take a "middle path", adding "We don't want to fall into the trap of blind optimism", while warning at the same time of the "catastrophic" tendency of things.

Doulange explained that while his company was a victim of AI-sourced attacks, it used the same technology to counter these attempts.

He believed that "the world needs more open-source AI than ever to defend itself".

Altman, Amodei and a number of senior officials in AI companies have been calling for some time for global regulation of this technology. "Open AI" called on the United States to lead an international effort to set standards for AI.

However, Washington and Beijing, leaders in the sector, reject any regulations or restrictions that would tie down their national companies in the frantic race to control this technology.