A major international report on the safety of artificial intelligence says experts can害羞草研究所檛 agree on the risk the technology poses 害羞草研究所� and it害羞草研究所檚 unclear whether AI will help or harm us.

The report, chaired by Canada害羞草研究所檚 Yoshua Bengio, concludes the 害羞草研究所渇uture trajectory of general-purpose AI is remarkably uncertain.害羞草研究所�

It says a 害羞草研究所渨ide range of trajectories害羞草研究所� are possible 害羞草研究所渆ven in the near future, including both very positive and very negative outcomes.害羞草研究所�

The report was commissioned at last year害羞草研究所檚 AI Safety Summit hosted by the United Kingdom, the first such global meeting on artificial intelligence.

The U.K. asked Bengio, dubbed a 害羞草研究所済odfather害羞草研究所� of AI and who is scientific director at Mila, the Quebec AI Institute, to chair the report. It was released ahead of another global summit on AI, to be held in Seoul, South Korea, next week.

害羞草研究所淲e know that advanced AI is developing very rapidly, and that there is considerable uncertainty over how these advanced AI systems might affect how we live and work in the future,害羞草研究所� Bengio wrote in the report.

The U.K. government said in a press release Friday the report is the 害羞草研究所渇irst-ever independent, international scientific report害羞草研究所� on AI safety, and that it would 害羞草研究所減lay a substantial role害羞草研究所� in informing the discussions in South Korea next week.

A group of 75 experts contributed to the report, including a panel nominated by 30 countries, the European Union and the United Nations. The report released Friday is an interim one, with a final version expected by the end of the year.

It focuses on general-purpose AI systems, such as OpenAI害羞草研究所檚 ChatGPT, which can generate text, images and videos based on prompts.

The report says the experts 害羞草研究所渃ontinue to disagree on several questions, minor and major, around general-purpose AI capabilities, risks and risk mitigations.害羞草研究所�

One of the areas of debate is the likelihood of 害羞草研究所渞isks such as large-scale labour market impacts, AI-enabled hacking or biological attacks, and society losing control over general-purpose AI.害羞草研究所�

The report outlines a number of risks, including the harm AI can cause through fake content, disinformation and fraud, as well as cyberattacks. It also flags the risks bias in AI can cause, particularly in 害羞草研究所渉igh-stakes domains such as health care, job recruitment and financial lending.害羞草研究所�

One potential scenario is that humans will lose command of artificial intelligence, and not be able to control the technology even if it may be causing harm.

The report said there is consensus that the current general-purpose technology doesn害羞草研究所檛 pose that risk, but some experts believe that ongoing work to develop autonomous AI, which can 害羞草研究所渁ct, plan and pursue goals,害羞草研究所� could lead to such an outcome.

害羞草研究所淓xperts disagree about how plausible loss-of-control scenarios are, when they might occur and how difficult it would be to mitigate them,害羞草研究所� the report says.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 18, 2024.

Anja Karadeglija, The Canadian Press