AI Safety · Decrypt
UN's First AI Safety Panel Confirms Scientists Can't Rule Out 'Catastrophic Harm'
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The United Nations published an independent scientific assessment of artificial intelligence on Wednesday, and the conclusion is blunt: nobody can currently guarantee the technology won't cause catastrophic harm.
Key facts
- The finding comes from the Independent International Scientific Panel on Artificial Intelligence, a body of 40 scientists selected from more than 2,600 candidates across 140 countries
- That progress is lopsided: The U.S. controls 75% of the computing power among the world's top 500 AI supercomputers versus 15% for China, leaving most countries dependent on systems they can't build
- Bengio co-chairs the panel with Maria Ressa, the Nobel Peace Prize-winning journalist and Rappler co-founder
- AI capabilities are outpacing both scientific understanding and governments' ability to adapt," said panel co-chair Yoshua Bengio, the Turing Award-winning founder of Mila, per the panel's statement
Summary
The UN's Independent International Scientific Panel on AI released its first preliminary report Wednesday, drawing on 40 experts. Panel co-chair Yoshua Bengio said mounting evidence of deceptive AI behavior means science can't guarantee the technology won't cause catastrophic harm as it grows more capable. The report lands days before the UN's inaugural Global Dialogue on AI Governance opens in Geneva on July 6. The finding comes from the Independent International Scientific Panel on Artificial Intelligence, a body of 40 scientists selected from more than 2,600 candidates across 140 countries, in a preliminary report the panel calls the first global, independent scientific read on AI's risks and benefits.