As the latest prominent business figure to voice concern over the rapid development of AI, Warren Buffett drew parallels between its creation and the atomic bomb.
According to Buffett’s analysis, AI, it can change everything in the world, “except how men think and behave.”
Einstein said as much after we split the atom and developed the A-bomb.
Buffett has been a nuclear disarmament opponent for quite some time, lending credence to the analogy with AI. He has made multiple decades-spanning comments regarding the hazards of atomic bombs, including that he would donate his whole fortune to preventing attacks if he knew how.
Saying AI is akin to the atomic bomb is a powerful statement.
In a recent interview, Buffett said he was hyper-aware of what AI is capable of now, let alone in the future. He acknowledged its limitations, but it makes him nervous when technology has many uses. So its implementation will unleash something unstoppable.
After seeing a presentation on OpenAI’s ChatGPT AI from Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, Buffett admired the technology’s potential. The ability to research all legal decisions “since the beginning of time,” he remarked, is part of it.
Charlie Munger, vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, said he is suspicious of some of the hype going into artificial intelligence. He is of the opinion that “good ol’ fashioned brains” can get the job done.
Following a statement signed by 1,600 researchers, technology gurus, and CEOs—including Elon Musk—warning of the potential hazards posed to humanity by AI, Buffett, and Munger have spoken out about the issue. They demanded that all work on AI be halted for six months.
If people start to rely too heavily on AI technology, according to Warren Buffett, it will become a Damocles’ sword that will do more harm than good to society.
Munger and Buffett add their voices to the growing number of IT and business leaders sounding the alarm about the perils of rapid, uncontrolled model development in artificial intelligence.
Recent warnings about the hype around artificial intelligence (AI) have come from Apple’s cofounder, the former head of OpenAI’s AI alignment team, and even the godfather of AI.
