AI expert warns of potential industry crash
AI pioneer Stuart Russell thinks the industry could be heading for a crash if real breakthroughs don't happen soon.
Speaking before the India AI Impact Summit, he said, "If you're investing $3 trillion... you have to get some substantial return and we're nowhere close to generating that."
Basically, he's worried all this hype and cash might not add up.
Current AI investments dwarf the Manhattan Project
Russell points out that today's AI investments are 50 times bigger than the Manhattan Project.
Despite all this money, progress has slowed because current tech (like large language models (LLMs)) gets way more expensive as it grows, but doesn't deliver huge leaps in performance.
AGI poses a significant risk
He's also concerned about artificial general intelligence (AGI).
Russell warns, "Whoever gets AGI first, everyone loses," since nobody really knows how to control super-smart systems.
If AGI doesn't share our goals, he fears we won't be able to control it and it could cause harm.
Who is Stuart Russell?
Russell is a UC Berkeley professor and co-author of the standard university textbook Artificial General Intelligence: A Modern Approach.
He is known for his work on making sure AI stays safe and useful for people.