Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple, has issued a warning about the potential misuse of artificial intelligence (AI) by “bad actors,” expressing concerns about the increased difficulty in identifying scams and misinformation. As one of Apple’s co-founders and the inventor of its first computer, Wozniak emphasized the need for clear labeling of AI-generated content and called for regulatory measures in the industry.
Steve Wozniak , a prominent figure in Silicon Valley, joined over 1,800 individuals in signing a letter in March, along with Tesla CEO Elon Musk, advocating for a six-month halt in the development of powerful AI systems. The signatories argued that such systems posed significant risks to humanity. Later revelations exposed that some signatories were fake, while others voluntarily withdrew their support.
The benefits and dangers of AI.
Wozniak, known in the tech world as Woz, talked about the benefits of AI and the dangers.
“AI is so intelligent it’s open to the bad players, the ones that want to trick you about who they are,” he told the BBC.
AI refers to computer systems that are able to do tasks that would normally require human intelligence. One of these, GPT-4, developed by OpenAI, a company co-founded by Musk and now backed by Microsoft, can hold conversation like a human, compose songs and summarise lengthy documents.
Wozniak does not believe AI will replace people because it lacks emotion, but warned that it will make bad actors more convincing, because programmes such as ChatGPT can create text that “sounds so intelligent”.
He made the argument that those who publish AI-generated programs should assume responsibility for them, explicitly stating that “those who publish it have to take the responsibility for what AI generates.
He urged regulators to hold to account the big tech firms that “feel they can kind of get away with anything”, but was sceptical regulators would get it right.