BANGKOK (AP) — Guardrails are urgently needed to contain potential risks from the boom in artificial intelligence, the head of the International Monetary Fund said Friday, likening the technology to a Formula 1 race car that might go off the track and run people over.
“We are racing, and the question is how do we put barriers? So if a car was to fly out it doesn’t kill people,” IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said.
“I have high respect for the industry. I think what you’re doing is incredibly important for humanity. You may give us the biggest gift, but if the car runs over people, that gift may not be so worthwhile,” she said while speaking on a panel on the impact of AI on the world economy along with experts including Anthropic co-founder and head of policy Jack Clark.
Clark is among technology industry leaders pushing for faster action on regulating AI. In a blog post last month, the rival to OpenAI proposed that the world’s top artificial intelligence companies come up with a coordinated way to pause development of advanced AI systems, warning the technology is improving so quickly there’s a risk humans would lose control.
“I think it’s worse than you describe. I think it’s Formula 1 at night without maybe brakes in the cars,” Clark said. “And it’s remarkable to me that the toys I buy for my children are regulated more than the literal superintelligence I work on at my day job.”