Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates told Reuters that halting AI development will not “address the issues” ahead.
Because a worldwide freeze remained unclear, the technologist-turned-philanthropist suggested focusing on AI’s greatest uses.
His interview with Reuters comes after an open letter co-signed by Elon Musk and more than 1,000 AI experts last week called for a halt to the development of systems “more powerful” than Microsoft-backed (MSFT.O) OpenAI’s new GPT-4, which can hold human-like conversations, compose songs, and summarize lengthy documents.
In the letter, experts, including Apple (AAPL.O) co-founder Steve Wozniak, said society should weigh the dangers and rewards.
Gates said Monday that asking one group to halt won’t fix the problems.
“Clearly these have significant benefits… identify the problematic areas.”
Microsoft invested billions in ChatGPT owner OpenAI to surpass competitors.
Gates, who works full-time for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, has called AI transformational, like the Internet or mobile phones.
In a blog titled “The Age of AI has begun,” published and dated March 21, a day before the open letter, he stated he believes AI should be utilized to help eliminate some of the world’s biggest injustices.
He also stated any delay would be hard to implement.
“I don’t understand who they’re saying could stop, would every country in the world agree to stop, and why to stop,” he added. “But this location has many opinions.”
