Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google, is set to join a discussion panel at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s CEO Summit of the Americas on June 09, 2022, in Los Angeles, California.
Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google and Alphabet, warned that AI is developing quickly and will impact society. He noted that people must be prepared for the advances already made with this technology.
Sundar Pichai says:
“Every product of every company”.
During his interview on CBS’ “60 Minutes” that aired Sunday, Scott Pelley was left in awe of Google’s AI projects. Expressing a concerned tone, he said he was “speechless” and found it “unsettling” due to their human-like characteristics; this includes the chatbot Bard created by Google.
Sundar Pichai went on to say:
“We need to adapt as a society for it,”
Pichai informed Pelley, saying that AI would affect the work of “knowledge workers” such as journalists, accountants, designers, and even software coders.
Sundar Pichai continues to say:
“This is going to impact every product across every company,”
“For example, you could be a radiologist, if you think about five to 10 years from now, you’re going to have an AI collaborator with you. You come in the morning, let’s say you have a hundred things to go through, it may say, ‘these are the most serious cases you need to look at first.'”
Pelley explored Google’s other AI technology hubs, like DeepMind. He watched as robots taught themselves to play soccer without any human instruction. In another area, he saw machines that could identify objects on a countertop and retrieve the apple he requested.
Pichai cautioned on the potential outcomes that Artificial Intelligence can have, saying that the issues of false information and bogus pictures could be “much bigger” and result in harm.
CNBC revealed last month that Pichai had communicated to staff inside the company that the success of its freshly released Bard program relied on public testing, additionally mentioning that “difficulties are bound to arise.”
Last month, Google unveiled its AI chatbot Bard on a trial basis to the public, following Microsoft’s January reveal that its search engine Bing would incorporate OpenAI’s GPT technology. This technology had already sparked international interest when ChatGPT was released in 2022.
Recently, people have expressed apprehension about the quick advancement of technology. In March, Elon Musk, Steve Wozniak, and several scholars wrote a letter asking for an immediate suspension of trials involving large language models “stronger than GPT-4”, OpenAI’s main LLM. Over 25,000 individuals have endorsed the appeal since then.
Pelley says:
“Competitive pressure among giants like Google and startups you’ve never heard of is propelling humanity into the future, ready or not,”
Google CEO Sundar Pichai has urged society to quickly develop regulations, laws, and even treaties between countries to make Artificial Intelligence (AI) safe for the world. He pointed out that these laws must align with human values such as morality. This comes after Google released a document outlining AI-related recommendations.
Pichai went on to say:
“It’s not for a company to decide,”
“This is why I think the development of this needs to include not just engineers but social scientists, ethicists, philosophers and so on.”
“On one hand, I feel no, because the pace at which we can think and adapt as societal institutions, compared to the pace at which the technology is evolving, there seems to be a mismatch.”
He expressed positivity, though, noting that many people have been contemplating the potential implications of this technology earlier than with other technologies in the past.
Bard crafted a narrative utilizing the six-word prompt supplied by Pelley, inventing characters and events along the way. This included a man whose spouse could not become pregnant and an unknown person mourning after a miscarriage who desires resolution.
Pichai continues to say:
“I am rarely speechless,”
“The humanity at super human speed was a shock.”
“because it makes me happy,”
“Bard appears to be thinking,”
James Manyika, who Google hired as a senior vice president last year to lead “technology and society,” was told by someone that Bard is not conscious and not aware of itself but can act like it. To this, Manyika replied affirmatively.
Pelley reported that when he queried Bard about inflation, the AI gave him five book titles as a prompt response. However, upon further inspection, these books were found to be imaginary. Pichai noted that this occurrence has caused Bard to have many hallucinations.
Pelley appeared worried when Pichai stated that “there is a black box” with chatbots, implying that it is unclear why or how they offer certain answers.
Pelley says:
“You don’t fully understand how it works and yet you’ve turned it loose on society?”
Pichai adds to say:
“Let me put it this way, I don’t think we fully understand how a human mind works either,”
Pichai’s warning about the impact of AI acceleration is a timely reminder of the importance of ethical AI development and regulation. While AI has the potential to revolutionize many aspects of our lives, we must ensure that it is developed and used responsibly to avoid unintended consequences. Collaboration between industry leaders, policymakers, and other stakeholders is critical to achieving this goal.
Source: CNBCBrace For Impact: How A.I. Accelera Could Change Society
