Mark Zuckerberg blasted as ‘irresponsible’ over plans to make advanced AI ‘widely available’

Artificial intelligence experts are raising alarms after Mark Zuckerberg said Meta plans to make advanced AI tools “widely available” to the public — despite warnings they could eventually pose a threat to humanity.

In a video posted to his Facebook account, Zuckerberg said the development and widespread release of artificial “general intelligence” — typically meaning AI systems with human-level cognitive abilities — is necessary to build “the next generation of services.”

“This technology is so important and the opportunities are so great that we should open source and make it as widely available as we responsibly can so that everyone can benefit,” Zuckerberg said.

But Wendy Hall, a renowned UK-based computer scientist who serves on the United Nations’ AI advisory panel, told the Guardian that Zuckerberg’s plans were “really very scary” given the potential risks of misuse.

“The thought of open source AGI being released before we have worked out how to regulate these very powerful AI systems is really very scary,” Hall said. “In the wrong hands technology like this could do a great deal of harm. It is so irresponsible for a company to suggest it.”

“Open source” refers to the concept of making the underlying source code of a product available to all to see and use as they see fit.