Building the AI Pause Button: Joep Meindertsma - Pause AI

Recently, the development of artificial intelligence has become exponential. As more programs like ChatGPT have been released to the public, many people see benefits of continuing investment in this growth. Some believe it might even help solve our existential threats.

But with its unregulated advancements, AI itself could be an existential threat to our world. From cybersecurity risks to autonomous weapons, artificial intelligence poses countless threats to the safety of humankind. How should we regulate AI development?

With us to talk about managing our uses of artificial intelligence is Joep Meindertsma, founder of Pause AI. Pause AI is an organization proposing a worldwide pause in development of the most powerful AI systems, through the regulation of their training and publication, alongside the creation of an international safety agency. Joep is also the CEO of Ontola and of Argu in the Netherlands. As a software engineer, he has lots of experience with technology and has seen the dangers of AI firsthand.

It’s comfortable to ignore the risks of artificial intelligence. And building a globally-functioning pause button won’t be easy. But the threat of AI has become urgent. We can’t afford to ignore its dangers to humanity any longer. Humans created artificial intelligence. It’s time for us to take responsibility and use our real intelligence to control AI before it controls us.

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The Human Survival Podcast, hosted by Shelby Mertes.

This show is offered by The Human Survival Project, a global grassroots organization pushing for a redesigned and much stronger United Nations, so humanity has the global tools to manage its global existential threats. We’re working to protect the future of humanity and create a world we can be proud of.

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RESOURCES:

Pause AI’s Website:
https://pauseai.info/ 

Pause Giant AI Experiments - An Open Letter:
https://futureoflife.org/open-letter/pause-giant-ai-experiments/ 

 

TIMESTAMPS:

0:00 - Introduction

3:39 - What is Pause AI?

6:28 - Cybersecurity risks and rapid development of AI.

10:37 - Consequences of rushed decisions.

15:35 - Building an international pause button.

22:31 - Emotional obstacles to taking responsibility.

25:00 - Big successes are possible.

27:19 - Designing global governance.

35:50 - Urgency of regulating AI.

38:44 - Creating an executive agency, authorized to move quickly.

41:41 - When and what do we pause?

46:57 - Regulating hardware used for AI.

50:20 - Controlling AI democratically and open-sourcing.

53:55 - Problems of promoting AI.

57:03 - When would AI become necessary?

59:14 - Value of AI in solving existential threats.

1:03:51 - Possibilities of AI takeover.

1:13:12 - Optimists vs. pessimists.

1:17:39 - Enforcing policy measures.

1:20:41 - Solving environmental issues with narrowed AI.

1:23:19 - Approaches to different AI models.

1:24:34 - Importance of international regulation.

1:26:35 - Courage to implement treaties.

1:29:27 - Plan for the future.

1:33:06 - Every small action matters.