CEOs and lead researchers from leading global artificial intelligence (AI) companies, including OpenAI and Anthropic, are warning that AI could lead to human extinction. They suggest that the rapid development of AI technology, which has surpassed the singularity, could pose a serious threat to humanity.
AI operates without rest, completing tasks that humans find tedious or challenging in an instant. It can solve complex mathematical problems that humans struggle with due to fatigue and distraction. As technology advances, understanding AI becomes increasingly difficult, leading to a growing fear of the unknown. This fear of AI is already a reality.
In contrast, President Donald Trump has stated, "Do not kill the goose that lays the golden eggs," and claimed that the warnings about human extinction are a scam. In summary, Trump argues that he is correct and that the concerns raised by Big Tech CEOs are exaggerated.
The very individuals who have contributed to the current AI crisis are the CEOs of Big Tech companies. They have engaged in an endless competition toward achieving artificial general intelligence (AGI). According to Menlo Ventures, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm, OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google together hold approximately 90% of the global large language model (LLM) market share.
The models developed by these three companies outperform open-source models by more than nine months to a year. No other models come close to achieving AGI.
Despite their warnings about the potential for human extinction, these companies show no signs of slowing down their development of next-generation models. They continue to expand their infrastructure, including data centers, backed by substantial investments. If they genuinely feared human extinction, those who claim to be nearing AGI should voluntarily slow their development. This is not a conversation for companies that have been lagging behind for nearly a year.
Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic, has proposed that to regulate the speed of AI technology, companies should refrain from competition for one to two years and establish an independent evaluation body. He also suggested creating guardrails to facilitate international agreements. While these are commendable ideas, they are not equitable. Even with a third-party organization, the standards would still be set by Big Tech.
As regulatory barriers increase, latecomer startups and companies from competing nations lacking legal and technical resources will find it impossible to enter the market. The primary beneficiaries of speed regulation and enhanced regulations will inevitably be the Big Tech companies that issued the warnings, further entrenching their market monopolies.
This does not mean that the crisis is nonexistent. It is indeed a challenge of our time for countries around the world to establish safety standards and legal frameworks. All technologies invented by humanity thus far have prioritized safety and ethics, allowing us to avoid extinction and develop the next generation of technology.
Therefore, it is crucial that the rules governing these guardrails are not dictated by the few Big Tech companies currently dominating the AI market. Allowing these companies to create the rules would merely enable them to maintain their privileges. AI technology risks becoming a permanent power of specific corporations rather than a shared asset of humanity.
The ongoing race toward AGI cannot be halted. What is needed is not the hypocritical warnings from Big Tech companies seeking to monopolize the market, but rather fair and transparent neutral guardrails that are not influenced by any specific corporation.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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