Yann LeCun, Meta’s chief AI scientist, has accused some of the most prominent founders in AI of “fear-mongering” and “massive corporate lobbying” to serve their own interests. He named OpenAI’s Sam Altman, Google DeepMind’s Demis Hassabis, and Anthropic’s Dario Amodei as those who are attempting to perform a “regulatory capture” of the AI industry.
LeCun is concerned that if these efforts succeed, it will lead to a “catastrophe” in which “a small number of companies will control AI.” He says that the focus on hypothetical dangers, such as the risk of AI becoming superintelligent and wiping out humanity, is diverting attention away from the real, imminent risks of AI, such as worker exploitation and data theft.
LeCun argues that the best way to ensure that AI is developed safely and ethically is to keep it open-source and transparent. He is worried that if AI development is locked into private, for-profit entities, it will lead to a situation where a small number of companies control AI and people’s entire digital diet.
LeCun believes that keeping AI development closed is a real reason for alarm. He says that it would be a “catastrophe” if a small number of companies from the West Coast of the U.S. and China were to control AI platform and hence control people’s entire digital diet.
The sources for this piece include an article in BusinessInsider.