Nigel Farage reacts to Elon Musk calling for complete halt to AI development

Speaking on his GB News show, Mr Farage said: “The growth of AI, ChatGPT, the idea that you can just ask a computer to do something, it has a brain of its own and it does it.

“Elon Musk is coming out pretty strongly today with many many others in the tech sector and the Future of Life Institute and what Musk and others are saying is quite simply there needs to be a complete halt on the development of AI machines at this stage.

“If it’s not voluntary, Government needs to intervene because Musk basically says that these systems could become literally beyond the ability of man to control. They could become monsters in their own right and he says that poses a very real threat to civilisation.”

Mr Farage’s comments come after Mr Musk and other tech leaders such as Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak signed a letter by the Future of Life Institute calling for AI labs to stop the development of advanced AI programmes.

The letter, which has accrued over 1,000 signatures, said AI systems with human-competitive intelligence can pose profound risks to society and humanity, as shown by extensive research.

“Contemporary AI systems are now becoming human-competitive at general tasks, and we must ask ourselves: Should we let machines flood our information channels with propaganda and untruth?”

They said they were calling “on all AI labs to immediately pause for at least 6 months the training of AI systems more powerful than GPT-4. This pause should be public and verifiable, and include all key actors.”

“If such a pause cannot be enacted quickly, governments should step in and institute a moratorium.”

They added: “AI labs and independent experts should use this pause to jointly develop and implement a set of shared safety protocols for advanced AI design and development that are rigorously audited and overseen by independent outside experts.

“These protocols should ensure that systems adhering to them are safe beyond a reasonable doubt.”

The letter by the London-based Future of Life Institute, which is primarily funded by the Musk Foundation, has also been signed by Yoshua Benigo, a man considered one of the “godfathers” of AI and Stuart Russell, a pioneer of research in the field.

Mr Musk’s signing of the letter follows the entrepreneur’s concerns about AI and the explosion in the use of Microsoft’s ChatGPT, one that has prompted rivals to accelerate the development of similar systems in an AI arms race.

On the same day, Mr Musk signed the letter, the Government released its white paper on AI regulation, setting out how it would police the technology.

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In a statement, the Government said it would be “premature” to regulate technology used by ChatGPT. Technology Secretary Michelle Donelan said: “Having exited the European Union we are free to establish a regulatory approach that enables us to establish the UK as an AI superpower.

“Our pro-innovation approach will also act as a strong incentive when it comes to AI businesses based overseas establishing a presence in the UK.”

A Government spokesman added: “The Government will avoid heavy-handed legislation which could stifle innovation and take an adaptable approach to regulating AI.

“Instead of giving responsibility for AI governance to a new single regulator, the government will empower existing regulators – such as the Health and Safety Executive, Equality and Human Rights Commission and Competition and Markets Authority – to come up with tailored, context-specific approaches that suit the way AI is actually being used in their sectors.”

Although the Government is trying to establish the UK as an AI superpower, concerns remain among experts such as Mr Musk that AI could be very close to becoming one of its own.

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