Stability AI CEO Says AI Poses an ‘Existential Threat to Humanity’
The CEO of Stability AI, the company behind artificial intelligence (AI) image generator Stable Diffusion, has warned that the technology could “wipe out humanity.”
Emad Mostaque took to Twitter over the weekend to write an alarming series of tweets” “I don’t get folk who say there is no existential risk from AGI,” — AGI stands for artificial generative intelligence.
I don’t get folk who say there is no existential risk from AGI.
Do y’all have no imagination?
There’s so many ways to wipe out humanity for something that can be more persuasive than anyone & replicate itself & gather any resources
Enslavement, end of democracy more likely ofc
— Emad (@EMostaque) May 20, 2023
“Do y’all have no imagination,’ Mostaque continues. “There’s so many ways to wipe out humanity for something that can be more persuasive than anyone and replicate itself and gather any resources.
“Enslavement, end of democracy more likely of course.”
Mostaque has recently given a series of alarming media interviews to the BBC, Sky News, and Fortune sounding the alarm over AI with apocalyptic overtones.
“The labs themselves say this could pose an existential threat to humanity,” Mostaque tells Sky News in an interview yesterday.
“When the people making [the models] say that, we should probably have an open discussion about that,” he adds.
Hmmm 🤔
What is greater – the existential threat of:
— Emad (@EMostaque) May 21, 2023
Mostaque, whose company is being sued by Getty Images over unauthorized usage of 12 million copyrighted photos used to train Stable Diffusion with, also put out a Twitter poll asking his followers whether climate change or AGI is the bigger existential threat; AGI marginally won out.
“Make AGI for selling ads and you’ll have an AGI optimized for manipulating and controlling people,” adds Mostaque. “Probably not good outcomes from that.”
AI Bosses Are Sounding the Alarm Over AI
Stable Diffusion is popular with photographers experimenting with AI thanks to the precise controls its offers with ControlNet.
Stability AI is a major player in the still nascent world of generative AI. Mostaque has now added himself to a list of AI bosses making dark predictions of where the technology could lead.
The CEO of OpenAI Sam Altman appeared before a Senate Judiciary subcommittee last week to warn that AI “can go quite wrong” and his worse fears is that it will “cause significant harm to the world.”
Altman effectively asked the government to come and regulate the industry, a highly unusual move from a company’s head.
It also came after a man dubbed the “Godfather of AI” who worked at Google for years effectively quit the company so that he could speak out about the dangers of AI.