“On the dangers of AI, is France in denial?” This theme was at the centre of a press conference organised by the association Pause IA on Tuesday 10 September in Paris. The prospect of an international summit on artificial intelligence (AI) to be held in the French capital on 10 and 11 February 2025 is prompting a mobilisation of the most concerned activists. “AI Security”They feel that they are not listened to. French officials are “too optimistic”in London accuses the president of the French subsidiary of Pause IA, Maxime Fournes, a thirty-year-old former AI financial engineer.
in a “second opinion” Published on Tuesday, Pause IA criticizes the AI Commission report presented in March to the government of“ignoring the warnings of many experts about existential risks” of AI, which “could lead to the extinction of humanity or catastrophic damage”by “the creation of AI that is uncontrollable or not aligned with human values” EITHER “malicious use to design biological weapons or devastating cyberattacks”.
According to the association, President Emmanuel Macron and the commission also rely too heavily on the opinion of representatives of AI companies, such as Yann LeCun of Meta (Facebook’s parent company), Arthur Mensch of Mistral AI, or Cédric O, former Secretary of State who became an advisor and shareholder of Mistral – the latter was accused of conflict of interest, but the High Authority for Transparency in Public Life stated in June, “that no element allows us to conclude” that reservations expressed about its move to the private sector were ignored.
Putting AI on “pause”
An international organization created in 2023 by a Dutch engineer, Pause IA, organized small demonstrations (less than ten participants in Paris) to demand an international treaty to suspend cutting-edge AI research. It is in line with the spirit of the major calls for 2023 to put AI into practice. ” break “ or to do “risk of extinction” a priority, “like pandemics or nuclear war”. Topics that will be very much on the agenda at the London AI Security Summit in November 2023.
The Future of Life Institute (FLI), the US think tank behind the petition for ” break “has appointed a representative in Paris and is organizing a series of meetings “AI Security Breakfasts”. “The Paris summit seeks to divert attention from security” AND “AI is seen as a vehicle for economic nationalism”, deplored in July the guest Stuart Russell, an American researcher who was a pioneer in exposing “Existential risks” of AI. “There is a decline in AI security everywhere, but France wins the prize”“This is a very alarmist approach,” says Connor Leahy of the London-based start-up ConjectureAI.
You have 34.88% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.
