Artificial intelligence: Powerful AI systems ‘can’t be controlled’ and ‘are causing harm’, says UK expert
A British scientist known for his contributions to artificial intelligence has told Sky News that powerful AI systems “can’t be controlled” and “are already causing harm”.
Professor Stuart Russell was one of more than 1,000 experts who last month signed an open letter calling for a six-month pause in the development of systems even more capable than OpenAI’s newly-launched GPT-4 – the successor to its online chatbot ChatGPT which is powered by GPT-3.5.
The headline feature of the new model is its ability to recognise and explain images.
Speaking to Sky’s Sophy Ridge, Professor Russell said of the letter: “I signed it because I think it needs to be said that we don’t understand how these [more powerful] systems work. We don’t know what they’re capable of. And that means that we can’t control them, we can’t get them to behave themselves.”
He said that “people were concerned about disinformation, about racial and gender bias in the outputs of these systems”.
And he argued with the swift progression of AI, time was needed to “develop the regulations that will make sure that the systems are beneficial to people rather than harmful”.
He said one of the biggest concerns was disinformation and deep fakes (videos or photos of a person in which their face or body has been digitally altered so they appear to be someone else – typically used maliciously or to spread false information).
He said even though disinformation has been around for a long time for “propaganda” purposes, the difference now is that, using Sophy Ridge as an example, he could ask GPT-4 to try to “manipulate” her so she’s “less supportive of Ukraine”.
He said the technology would read Ridge’s social media presence and what she has ever said or written, and then carry out a gradual campaign to “adjust” her news feed.
Professor Russell told Ridge: “The difference here is I can now ask GPT-4 to read all about Sophy Ridge’s social media presence, everything Sophy Ridge has ever said or written, all about Sophy Ridge’s friends and then just begin a campaign gradually by adjusting your news feed, maybe occasionally sending some fake news along into your news feed so that you’re a little bit less supportive of Ukraine, and you start pushing harder on politicians who say we should support Ukraine in the war against Russia and so on.
“That will be very easy to do. And the really scary thing is that we could do that to a million different people before lunch.”
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Will this chatbot replace humans?
The expert, who is a professor of computer science at the University of California, Berkeley, warned of “a huge impact with these systems for the worse by manipulating people in ways that they don’t even realise is happening”.
Ridge described it as “genuinely really scary” and asked if that kind of thing was happening now, to which the professor replied: “Quite likely, yes.”
He said China, Russia and North Korea have large teams who “pump out disinformation” and with AI “we’ve given them a power tool”.
“The concern of the letter is really about the next generation of the system. Right now the systems have some limitations in their ability to construct complicated plans.”
Read more:
What is GPT-4 and how does it improve upon ChatGPT?
Elon Musk reveals plan to build ‘TruthGPT’ despite warning of AI dangers
He suggested under the next generation of systems, or the one after that, corporations could be run by AI systems. “You could see military campaigns being organised by AI systems,” he added.
“If you’re building systems that are more powerful than human beings, how do human beings keep power over those systems forever? That’s the real concern behind the open letter.”
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The professor said he was trying to convince governments of the need to start planning ahead for when “we need to change the way our whole digital ecosystem… works.”
Since it was released last year, Microsoft-backed OpenAI’s ChatGPT has prompted rivals to accelerate the development of similar large language models and encouraged companies to integrate generative AI models into their products.
UK unveils proposals for ‘light touch’ regulations around AI
It comes as the UK government recently unveiled proposals for a “light touch” regulatory framework around AI.
The government’s approach, outlined in a policy paper, would split the responsibility for governing AI between its regulators for human rights, health and safety, and competition, rather than create a new body dedicated to the technology.
Zoe Ball is leaving her BBC Radio 2 breakfast show after six years.
The 53-year-old, who recently lost her mother to cancer, will present her last show on Friday, 20 December.
Ball leaves Wogan House with her replacement, Scott Mills. Pic: PA
She said she was leaving to focus on family, but will remain part of the Radio 2 team and will give further details next year.
Announcing the news on her Tuesday show, she said: “After six years of fun times alongside you all on the breakfast show, I’ve decided it’s time to step away from the early alarm call and start a new chapter.
“You know I think the world of you all, listeners, and it truly has been such a privilege to share the mornings with you, to go through life’s little ups and downs, we got through the lockdown together, didn’t we?
“We’ve shared a hell of a lot, the good times, the tough times, there’s been a lot of laughter. And I am going to miss you cats.”
Scott Mills will replace Ball on the breakfast show following her departure next month.
“Zoe and I have been such good friends now for over 25 years and have spent much of that time as part of the same radio family here at Radio 2 and also on Radio 1,” he said.
“She’s done an incredible job on this show over the past six years, and I am beyond excited to be handed the baton.”
Hugging outside the BBC building on the day of the announcement, Ball said she was “really chuffed for my mate and really excited about it”.
Ball was the first female host of both the BBC Radio 1 and Radio 2 breakfast shows, starting at the Radio 1 breakfast show in 1998, and taking over her current Radio 2 role from Chris Evans in 2020 after he left the show.
She took a break from hosting her show over the summer, returning in September.
Ahead of her stint in radio, Ball – who is the daughter of children’s presenter Johnny Ball – co-hosted the BBC’s Saturday morning children’s magazine show Live & Kicking alongside Jamie Theakston for three years from 1996.
She has two children, Woody and Nelly, with her ex-husband, DJ and musician Norman Cook, known professionally as Fatboy Slim.
Ball said in her announcement her last show towards the end of December will be “just in time for Christmas with plenty of fun and shenanigans”.
“While I’m stepping away from the Breakfast Show, I’m not disappearing entirely – I’ll still be a part of the Radio 2 family, with more news in the New Year,” she added.
“I’m excited to embrace my next chapter, including being a mum in the mornings, and I can’t wait to tune in on the school run!”
Helen Thomas, head of Radio 2, said: “Zoe has woken up the nation on Radio 2 with incredible warmth, wit and so much joy since January 2019, and I’d like to thank her for approaching each show with as much vim and vigour as if it were her first. I’m thrilled that she’ll remain an important part of the Radio 2 family.”
Mills, 51, got his first presenting role aged just 16 for a local station in Hampshire, and went on to present in Bristol and Manchester, before joining BBC Radio 1 in 1998.
He’s previously worked as a cover presenter on Radio 2, but this is his first permanent role on the station.
UK
More prisoners are being transferred to less secure jails to tackle overcrowding crisis, Sky News understands
The prison service is starting to recategorise the security risk of offenders to ease capacity pressures, Sky News understands.
It involves lowering or reconsidering the threshold of certain offenders to move them from the closed prison estate (category A to C) to the open estate (category D) because there are more free cell spaces there.
Examples of this could include discounting adjudications – formal hearings when a prisoner is accused of breaking the rules – for certain offenders, so they don’t act as official reasons not to transport them to a lower-security jail.
Prisoners are also categorised according to an Incentives and Earned Privileges (IEP) status. There are different levels – basic, standard and enhanced – based on how they keep to the rules or display a commitment to rehabilitation.
Usually ‘enhanced’ prisoners take part in meaningful activity – employment and training – making them eligible among other factors, to be transferred to the open estate.
Insiders suggest this system in England and Wales is being rejigged so that greater numbers of ‘standard’ prisoners can transfer, whereas before it would more typically be those with ‘enhanced’ status.
Open prisons have minimal security and allow eligible prisoners to spend time on day release away from the prison on license conditions to carry out work or education.
The aim is to help reintegrate them back into society once they leave. As offenders near the end of their sentence, they are housed in open prisons.
Many of those released as part of the early release scheme in October after serving 40% of their sentence were freed from open prisons.
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Overcrowding in UK prisons
They were the second tranche of offenders freed as part of this scheme, and had been sentenced to five years or more.
Despite early release measures, prisons are still battling a chronic overcrowding crisis. The male estate is almost full, operating at around 97% capacity.
Read more from Sky News:
Find out what it’s really like inside prison?
Prison recalls soar as justice system struggles
Campaigners demand IPP sentences are scrapped
Sky News understands there continue to be particular pinch points across the country.
Southwest England struggled over the weekend with three space-related ‘lockouts’ – which means prisoners are held in police suites or transferred to other jails because there is no space.
One inmate is believed to have been transported from Exeter to Cardiff.
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “The new government inherited a prison system on the point of collapse. We took the necessary action to stop our prisons from overflowing and to protect the public.
“This is not a new scheme. Only less-serious offenders who meet a strict criteria are eligible, and the Prison Service can exclude anyone who can’t be managed safely in a category D prison.”
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