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In yet another widely signed letter, some of the world’s biggest companies in the space have pledged to build AI for people to thrive ‘much more than we could before’.
Some of the world’s pioneers in the development of artificial intelligence, including OpenAI and Mistral AI, have signed a letter calling on everyone to build the technology in a way that improves people’s lives.
Written by venture capitalist Ron Conway and his firm SV Angel, the open letter published yesterday (4 March) states that it is our “collective responsibility” to make choices that maximise AI’s benefits and mitigate its risks now and for future generations.
“The purpose of AI is for humans to thrive much more than we could before,” the letter reads.
It argues that while the technology is still in its early stages, it is on its way to improving everyone’s daily life, such as through AI tutors that helps us learn, translation tools to better connect the world, medical diagnoses to improve healthcare and research to accelerate scientific discovery.
“While AI is unique in directly augmenting human thought, we expect its impact to be more akin to the printing press, the combustion engine, electricity and the internet. The balance of its good and bad impacts on humans will be shaped through the actions and thoughtfulness we as humans exercise,” the letter goes on.
“We all have something to contribute to shaping AI’s future, from those using it to create and learn, to those developing new products and services on top of the technology, to those using AI to pursue new solutions to some of humanity’s biggest challenges, to those sharing their hopes and concerns for the impact of AI on their lives.”
excited for the spirit of this letter, and ron’s leadership in rallying the industry!
progress in ai will be one of the biggest factors in improving people’s quality of life; we need to build it and make it widely available. https://t.co/6GB13ddAT7
— Sam Altman (@sama) March 4, 2024
Among the 285 signatories (at time of writing) are Big Tech players including Microsoft, Google and Meta, who have all been investing heavily in AI since the release of ChatGPT in 2022 prompted a race to make the most advanced models.
Other familiar names include Y Combinator, Salesforce, Hugging Face, Databricks, ElevenLabs, Stability AI and Khosla Ventures.
“AI is for all of us, and all of us have a role to play in building AI to improve people’s lives,” the letter concludes. “We, the undersigned, already are experiencing the benefits from AI and are committed to building AI that will contribute to a better future for humanity.”
Last week, billionaire Elon Musk filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman for not sticking to the company’s original objective of developing AI for the benefit of humanity.
The news came as reports suggested OpenAI is planning to appoint several new board members within the next month after chaos at the upper echelons of the AI start-up last November, when Altman was briefly removed – and then reinstated – as CEO.
Responding to the latest letter in a post on X, Altman said that he is excited for Conway’s leadership in rallying the industry on its objective.
“Progress in AI will be one of the biggest factors in improving people’s quality of life; we need to build it and make it widely available,” he said.
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