Berlin (AFP) – AI chip giant Nvidia’s boss Jensen Huang said on Thursday that warnings artificial intelligence could wipe out humanity were “cheap” attempts to grab headlines. “When you say that it will be the end of the human civilisation, first of all, it’s not true,” he told a conference organised by his company in Berlin.
While such statements generate “headlines”, they were “made up” and “cheap”, added Huang, whose visit to Berlin is the final stop of a European tour. After incidents of the technology getting around controls during tests, there has been a heated debate about whether AI presents an existential risk to humanity. In September, a researcher resigned from Anthropic with a stark warning that leading AI labs were “gambling with our lives”, and the bosses of Anthropic and fellow industry giant OpenAI have called for a slowdown.
Huang, however, is firmly in the opposing camp, and has advocated for the development of the technology to move full steam ahead. Speaking in Berlin, he urged the world to approach AI with “responsible optimism”. “If you care about the future, past our own lives, if we care about the future of sustainability, this is the perfect time — build AI,” he said. “Don’t try to stifle AI.”
US regulators are seen as unlikely to intervene when it comes to AI development. President Donald Trump opposes strict regulation and said in September that the US government would rename the technology “super intelligence” in official communications. During Huang’s European tour, Nvidia pledged nearly $10 billion in investments in the continent’s tech sector and urged Europe, which is lagging behind in the AI race, to move faster.
© 2024 AFP
