Where do you sit on the AI pause debate?

Welcome to No Playbook, a ‘newsletter’ (at best) where I regurgitate my stream of consciousness as I explore different emerging and innovative technologies and business ideas. There are no answers, no roadmap, and no playbook to be found here. Just my own thoughts and perspectives as I try to make sense of things whilst embracing the constant change.

Artificial Intelligence has been given so much attention and spotlight lately, and in such a manner that has not happened before. From being the passion area of a few, to now hearing “I used ChatGPT to…” and “How to use ChatGPT to…” at nearly every dinner conversation and refresh of my LinkedIn and Twitter feed.

But this is no surprise. Over the last few months, the speed of mass consumer onboarding to AI technologies has been nothing short of meteoric. This is due in part to the fact that AI has been packaged into tangible products for people to try, play with, and, more importantly, imagine a future where AI is in everything we do.

And like anything that undergoes a sudden spike in evolution, comes our natural instinct to seek reassurance in reaffirming our understanding of it and its trajectory.

So much so that just in recent weeks, over 18,000 people have signed an open letter, urging for a pause in advanced AI training more powerful than GPT-4 — citing that contemporary AI systems are becoming “human-competitive” in general tasks. This includes some of the most influential AI leaders and researchers in the industry such as Elon Musk (CEO SpaceX, Tesla and Twitter), Steve Wozniak (Co-founder Apple), Emad Motasque (CEO Stability AI), and many more — people who know what they're talking about.

However, no matter how many influential people are on this list, the industry continues to stay divided. There are many experts who believe pausing is not the right mechanism for solving the issues of AI, and may cause more harm than good. It is also interesting to note that no one from OpenAI (the creators of ChatGPT) has signed it.

It is evident that the issue is not necessarily only about pausing AI development or not, but rather a recognition that AI as a technology has not been adequately managed with the significance and attention it deserves. Like many emerging technologies, its waves have been generally fairly contained to a small section of society and business - making it manageable - until it is not.

Catalysed by the convergence of incredible advances in AI research, accelerated digitisation of businesses, and the mass adoption of AI products, AI is moving from behind the scenes to something we humans actively use and engage with. A future that we only imagined in sci-fi or one that we thought was still far in the distance.

But in fact, AI is now no longer only recommending which movies to watch or products to buy, but is transitioning to being a tool or partner that you directly derive value from — across your work and personal life. And when technologies arrive at this new stage of maturity, our imagined potential futures become more probable.

And when this happens, particularly in something we don't truly understand, we tend to slow down. We tend to pause.

However, pausing advanced AI research and development in reaction seems a little shallow. Even just in the short amount of time the industry has been debating this pause, AI technology has continued its advance significantly. We see innovative research exploring self-reflection by AI, expansion of AI’s sphere of interaction to other AIs, and a host of other advancements that are pushing technology frontiers in all sorts of directions that are different to Large Language Models such as ChatGPT.

With the dynamism we face, the reality is that pausing is not pragmatically enforceable across the world.

However, arguably more significant than the pragmatic nature of a pause, is that it does not address what I believe to be the more foundational challenges of managing AI progress and its proliferation across business and society. Asking questions such as “How do we effectively and safely manage AI despite its continued progress? How do we steer AI such that it becomes a reinforcing positive force? How do we safely adapt to a world where humans and AI become more indistinguishable from each other?”

One challenge that quickly falls out is, who will solve these questions for us? Ironically, recent history tells us that it may not always be optimal to leave it to our governments and large technology companies to solely determine how emerging technologies should be handled. Without diminishing the significant role they play in shaping AI practices forward, I believe all businesses have a real commercial reason to actively engage in this conversation. It is essential to recognise that as AI further embeds itself in consumer experiences and expectations, businesses must be prepared for the inherent responsibility it assumes in the use of AI. This includes understanding the impact of AI on their business, the ability to manage it, and the ability to take appropriate action to ensure customer expectations are met.

And just as the wider AI industry debates the merits and consequences of a pause, businesses should actively consider their own current capacity in managing AI to avoid being caught off-guard — as competitors will not be so inclined to wait.