Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian told CNBC on Wednesday that the tech industry has been “tone deaf” in explaining AI and properly informing the public about the real risks.
Ohanian said the debate around AI should focus on the real risks, rather than issues that could be used to score political points, and argued that an informed public is essential to navigating the technology successfully. While he acknowledged that the technology industry is contributing to the problem by doing a “pretty dumb job” of explaining AI, he suggested that the risks of AI are more commonplace than the “Terminator vs. Skynet” scenario that some fear.
Skynet is a fictional self-aware AI system from the Terminator movie that sees humans as a threat and seeks to wipe them out.
The comments came days after researchers at AI institutes OpenAI and Anthropic warned about rapid advances in a technology known as recursive self-improvement (RSI).
RSI refers to AI systems that help develop more sophisticated models, potentially creating a cycle in which increasingly capable systems contribute to building even more capable models.
The concern is that if AI systems take over the process of training new models, human developers may eventually lose control over how those systems evolve.
Ohanian argued that while the risks of AI are real, apocalyptic Terminator-style warnings can distract from real concerns, such as swarms of agents when multiple AI agents work together to perform complex tasks.
“The risk exists. I think it’s more benign or more mundane than people think,” he said.
He likened AI to nuclear energy. Both technologies are powerful scientific advances that, while they have the potential to cause significant harm, also offer significant benefits if managed responsibly.
“I hope this moves in a healthy direction. It just requires less tweeting and more thoughtful conversation,” Ohanian said.
He didn’t specifically say he was “disappointed by the disastrous tweets,” but added that he was “frustrated” that “the slogans aren’t actually real.”
Earlier this month, an AI researcher quit his job at Anthropic, accusing the company and OpenAI of acting irresponsibly when it comes to developing powerful technology.
Jacob Coxon, who has worked as a researcher at both companies, said on social media that he resigned because he was concerned that Anthropic and OpenAI were “putting our lives on the line.” He said those developing AI “seriously believe that AI could kill us all by the end of this decade.”
For Ohanian, nuance is very important. “We should be debating important things, like real things, not things that can quickly score political points…I believe we can have this discussion.”
“It’s frustrating to see all this misinformation floating around, but I think in the long run we’ll get the information right, and I hope we do. So I’m not too worried about that part.”
