Billionaire investors Warren Buffett, 92, and Charlie Munger, 99, aren’t jumping on the artificial intelligence (AI) hype train.
Asked at this year’s annual Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting how developments in robotics and artificial intelligence will affect the stock market and society at large, the two executives expressed skepticism.
“I’m personally skeptical of some of the hype around artificial intelligence,” Munger said. “I think old fashioned intelligence works just fine.”
Buffett said Microsoft co-founder and close friend Bill Gates helped him pilot ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence chatbot. Despite the “amazing things” the technology does, he still has concerns.
“I get a little worried when something can do all kinds of things because I know we can’t uninvent it,” Buffett said.
One of Buffett’s concerns: We may not yet realize the unforeseen consequences of releasing this new technology into society. He cites the creation of the atomic bomb as an example: the weapon was invented for a specific purpose during World War II, but it was questioned whether it would necessarily be “good for the world for the next 200 years”.
Buffett has previously questioned whether artificial intelligence technologies like ChatGPT are good for society, but also said the technology is outside his area of expertise.
Munger has previously dismissed artificial intelligence as “a mixed blessing.” He told CNBC in February that while AI is important, there’s also “a lot of crazy hype” around it, and that the technology won’t be able to “do everything we want it to do.”
“AI will not cure cancer,” he added.
Tech leaders call for moratorium on AI development
Buffett and Munger aren’t the only ones concerned about the rapid development of artificial intelligence.
In March, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, Tesla CEO Elon Musk and thousands of others Signed an open letter from the Future of Life Institute urging AI labs to immediately suspend the training of AI systems more powerful than OpenAI’s latest chatbot, ChatGPT-4, for at least six months.
“Contemporary AI systems are now becoming competitive with humans at common tasks, and we must ask ourselves: Should we allow machines to flood our information channels with propaganda and lies?” This letter read.
Additionally, the letter said AI labs and independent experts should use the pause to develop and implement safety protocols for “advanced AI design.”
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said he didn’t think the letter was the “best way” to address AI safety at an event at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
However, Altman agrees that “it is very important to proceed with caution and be increasingly strict on safety issues.”
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