World may not have time' to prepare for AI safety risks, says leading researcher

"We will be outcompeted in all of the domains that we need to be dominant in, in order to maintain control of our civilisation, society and planet. Dalrymple said there was a gap in understanding between the public sector and AI companies about the power of looming breakthroughs in the technology. I would advise that things are moving really fast and we may not have time to get ahead of it from a safety perspective, he said."

"Aria is publicly funded but independent from the government and directs research funding. Dalrymple is developing systems to safeguard AI's use in critical infrastructure such as energy networks. We can't assume these systems are reliable. The science to do that is just not likely to materialise in time given the economic pressure. So the next best thing that we can do, which we may be able to do in time, is to control and mitigate the downsides, he said."

Cutting-edge AI systems could soon perform most economically valuable tasks at higher quality and lower cost than humans, potentially within five years. Such systems could outcompete humans across domains necessary for maintaining control of civilization, society, and the planet. A gap exists between public-sector understanding and AI companies about the scale of upcoming breakthroughs. The science needed to guarantee reliability is unlikely to materialize quickly due to economic pressures. Immediate priorities include controlling and mitigating downsides and developing technical work to understand and constrain advanced systems' behaviors, especially in critical infrastructure like energy networks. Technological progress could destabilize security and the economy.

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