Stop the robots!

After the rapid evolution of robots and artificial intelligence, it seems that humanity wants a brake.

It is not today that I talk about artificial intelligence. I have already written numerous articles on this subject, the most recent one was entitled “Is no job safe from Artificial Intelligence?”, which you can check out by clicking here. In all these articles, it is astonishing that more and more of the fiction that we watched in movies, cartoons and series, since the 60s, is getting closer to reality.

However, all this progress, especially in the area of ​​Artificial Intelligence, began to worry humanity. On March 22, 2023, an “open letter” was published, entitled “Pause Giant AI Experiments”, (in free translation, Pause giant AI experiments), with the following recommendation: “We ask all AI laboratories to immediately stop, for at least six months, the training of AI systems more powerful than GPT-4 ”, and the following argument: “AI systems with human competitive intelligence can pose profound risks to society and humanity”. It already has more than 27,000 signatures, and many people linked to the technology area stand out.

The letter was published in the non-profit organization “Future of Life Institute”, established in 2015, with the mission of driving transformative technology to benefit life, away from extreme risks on a large scale, with the main funder of Musk Foundation. You can see the letter in full (in English) as well as the signatures by clicking here.

This letter drew attention because of its well-known names, such as:

• Elon Musk, billionaire, owner of Tesla, SpaceX and Twitter;
• Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple;
• Jaan Tallinn, co-founder of Skype;
• Evan Sharp, co-founder of Pinterest;
• Chris Larsen, co-founder of Ripple;
• Craig Peters, CEO da Getty Images;
• Tom Gruber, head of design the team that created Siri, Apple’s virtual assistant;
• Yuval Noah Harari, professor and author of the books “Homo Deus” e “Sapiens”;
• Andrew Yang, politician, presidential candidate in 2020 and mayoralty of New York in 2021;
• Max Tegmark, MIT Professor of Artificial Intelligence and Fundamental Interactions, as well as President of the “Future of Life Institute”.

These are just a few names I highlighted for being co-founders or CEOs of technology companies well known in the media for their work, and even politicians.

After that letter, coincidence or not, many countries began to think about regulations for the area of ​​artificial intelligence. And due to its fame, the focus has been on “ChatGPT”, as it is the most popular tool of this artificial intelligence revolution.

The Chinese government intends to adopt a “safety assessment” system for all artificial intelligence tools. According to the project, the AI ​​will undergo this evaluation before the start of commercialization of the service, as announced on April 11, 2023 by the Cyberspace Administration of China.

According to what the agency states, artificial intelligence must “reflect fundamental socialist values ​​and must not present content related to the subversion of state power”, with the aim of guaranteeing the “healthy development and standardized application of generative artificial intelligence technology ”.

There is still no date for when this measure will come into effect, as, according to the regulatory agency, the project will first undergo a public consultation before being approved.

The European Union was not left behind, however, Italy went ahead alone, with a more radical action, and temporarily blocked ChatGPT in the country, on suspicion of violating data collection rules and for not complying with the protection law. European Union data.

According to the Italian agency, “the absence of any legal basis that justifies the collection and massive storage of personal data in order to train the algorithms underlying the functioning of the platform”.

This decision by Italy accelerated the discussion within the European bloc, which on April 13, 2023, brought together national privacy authorities to create a task force and analyze the ChatGPT robot. The European Data Protection Council (EDPB) will use this case as a basis for the bloc to create a policy of privacy rules that will be adopted for artificial intelligence within the European Union. In a statement, the analysis group reported that “The EDPB has decided to launch a task force dedicated to promoting cooperation and the exchange of information on possible actions taken by data protection authorities”.

On April 11, 2023, the United States, according to the news agency Reutersopened a consultation with the population on suggestions for measures to make responsible and control the functioning of tools based on artificial intelligence.

This theme is attracting a lot of attention in the country, mainly from the American legislature, because ChatGPT, for all that it has shown to do, was one of the tools that had the biggest growth in history in terms of number of users, surpassing 100 million monthly actives.

The head of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) at the Department of Commerce, Alan Davidson, said that “Responsible AI systems can bring enormous benefits, but only if we address their potential consequences and harms” and added “ For these systems to reach their full potential, businesses and consumers need to be able to rely on them.”

The major concern in the country is information security. In another interview, Davidson commented that the government’s main objective is to determine whether artificial intelligence works the way companies claim, whether it is safe and effective, whether it has discriminatory results or “reflects unacceptable levels of bias”, whether it spreads or perpetuates disinformation and respect the privacy of individuals. “We have to move quickly because these AI technologies are spreading so fast.”

It’s in Brazil? You must be asking yourself. Here, the subject is already being treated long before the open letter.

On December 6, 2022, the Senate Commission of Jurists (CJSUBIA), chaired by Minister Ricardo Villas Bôas Cueva, with rapporteur by jurist Laura Schertel, delivered the Final Report for the elaboration of the Regulatory Framework for Artificial Intelligence. The report has a double objective: to establish rights for the protection of the affected person and to have a regulatory framework for inspection and supervision. The expectation is that, now in 2023, the Report will pass through the Senate to create a bill that defines the development and use of artificial intelligence in Brazil.

It’s interesting to think how fiction is getting closer and closer to our reality. Countries thinking about laws to protect themselves from robots, don’t you remember something? The book “I, Robot”, launched in 1950 by the writer Isaac Asimov, created the three laws of robotics. In a time when the internet or cell phones did not exist, he already imagined this conflict with artificial intelligence and the concern that they could cause harm to human beings.

Just out of curiosity, these are the three laws of robotics, according to Isaac Asimov:

1. A robot may not injure a human or allow a human to come to harm;
2. Robots must obey orders from humans, except where those orders would conflict with the first law;
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as it does not conflict with previous laws.

With these discussions on artificial intelligence, Isaac Asimov’s work is a great reading option. For those who like movies, two more recent films that were based on his books are “I, Robot”, from 2004, and “O Homem Bicentenário”, from 1999. , is “AI – Artificial Intelligence”, from 2001, directed by Steven Spielberg.

As Oscar Wilde said, “Life imitates art more than art imitates life.”

Lilian Primo is CEO and founder of Mobybe Mobilidade Elétrica, VP of Instituto Êxito and VP of IT at Anefac. She talks about technology, innovation, mobility and trends.

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