On 1 and 2 November 2023, politicians, scientists, and leaders of tech companies gathered in Britain's Bletchley Park to discuss the risks of artificial intelligence (AI). The main focus points were disinformation, cyber attacks, and the (by the way probably low) likelihood that AI will soon go beyond a "frontier" and threaten life as we know it.
The AI Safety Summit at Bletchley Park Asked the Wrong Questions is the title of a statement Reijer Passchier recently published in the International Journal of Social Quality.
As often happens on such occasions, the real issues with AI remained undiscussed: the power to control this promising technology is mainly in the hands of a few very large commercial giants (Maslej et al. 2023), in some of which only a small number of CEOs and major shareholders call the shots. As property owners of AI and the necessary infrastructure, these companies almost unilaterally decide what AI applications will be developed, at what pace, the acceptable risks in the process, the values AI should serve, and under what conditions others may use AI. In doing so, their own private interests (or delusions) are usually paramount. Not so much the public interest.
How did we end up in this "feudal" situation? Reijer asks.
