PETITION:
Humans for Transparency in Artificial Intelligence
Bill Hibbard, Nick Baladis, Ben Goertzel, Hruy Tsegaye, David Hanson
If you agree that advanced AI technology should be developed and deployed in a transparent and open way, then scroll down and add your signature to the petition below!
Recent dramatic progress in artificial intelligence (AI) leads us to believe that Ray Kurzweil’s prediction of human level AI by 2029 may be roughly accurate. Even if reality proves a bit different, still it seems very likely that today’s young people will spend most of their lives in a world largely shaped by AI.
The rapid advent of increasingly advanced AI has led many people to worry about the balance of positive and negative consequences AI will bring. While there is a limit to the degree anyone can predict or control revolutionary developments, nevertheless, there are some things we can do now to maximize the odds that the future development of AI is broadly positive, and the potential for amazing benefits outweighs the potential risks.
One thing we can do now is to advocate for the development of AI technology, and its real-world utilization as well, to be as open and transparent as possible — so that AI is something the whole human race is doing for itself, rather than something being foisted on the rest of the world by one or another small groups. The creation and rollout of new forms of general intelligence is a huge deal and it’s something that needs the full intelligence and wisdom of the whole human race.
For more depth on the reasons that transparency in AI development is by far the best alternative, see this recent Humanity+ article by Bill Hibbard and colleagues. ‘For more thorough academic and analytical discussions of the issues, see this list of relevant recent articles. Also note the recent advent of OpenAI, an amply-funded AI initiative from Elon Musk, Sam Altman, Peter Thiel and their colleagues, which is focused initially on transparent, open-source AI.
This petition was conceived by American AI researcher Bill Hibbard, MIT student Nick Baladis, and Hong Kong-based AI researcher Ben Goertzel. It was implemented by Hruy Tsegaye and Mehari Geta Mamo at iCog Labs, an advanced technology consulting firm in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia that works closely with Ben Goertzel, and among other projects contributes to the OpenCog open-source Artificial General Intelligence Initiative, and to the Hanson Robotics software team, which is creating open-source control software for the firm’s emotional, social, compassionate human-like robots.
If you agree with this international team that transparent, open development of advanced AI technology is — based on our current state of knowledge — the best option for the future of humanity and other sentient beings, please add your signature below.
Also, if you are interested to discuss transparency in AI R&D with others, you can join the new Transparent AI Google Group here.
Sign the Transparent AI petition here:
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