AI Expert Richard Socher on Sensible AI Regulation
There is a lot of talk about AI regulation, and unrealistic scenarios are presented about how AI could become autonomous. Richard Socher makes a good point about what AI regulation should look like:
“There should be no agency for AI, just as there is none for computers. But there should be application-specific agencies like the FDA in the US, which oversees drug development. Can AI be used to discover new proteins? Absolutely. Should researchers be given money to develop a deadly virus with AI and protein development? Absolutely not. All the fears that people associate with AI are primarily fears of people who want to misuse this tool for their benefit. In many ways, AI holds up a mirror to us. Humanity does many terrible things to humanity – and we should regulate those specifically.”
– Richard Socher, scientist and entrepreneur (founder of the AI startup Metamind/later Salesforce, founder of the AI-driven search service You.com), in ‘”Existential Risks’ or mere ‘Excitement’? – Two world-renowned AI experts (Nick Bistrom/Richard Socher) discuss the capabilities of the new technology: Can it develop a superintelligence, perhaps even a kind of consciousness?”, Handelsblatt (The AI Revolution), June 30, 1./2. July 2023, page 11, No. 124
