Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sept. 18 that humanity is “far behind the curve” on addressing the risks of artificial intelligence (AI) and that time is running out to get ahead of those concerns.
“It took us, you know, centuries at least to adapt to the Agricultural Revolution,“ Mr. Netanyahu said while discussing the topic live on X, formerly known as Twitter, with the platform’s owner, Elon Musk. ”It took us maybe a century to adapt to the Industrial Revolution. We may have just but a few years and then we’re running out, as we speak, to adapt to the AI Revolution.”
The prime minister said that in other areas, such as the economy, he was able to model his country’s approach after those of other nations, such as the United States. But when it comes to AI, he said, “there’s really no one to look at.”
“What does a democratic country do? How does it cooperate with other democracies? How does it get a handle on this?” he asked.
Blessings and Curses
Mr. Netanyahu acknowledged that the blessings of AI for humanity could be great, but he stressed that there were also “curses” attached to the powerful technology.“The curse could be manifold. It could be the disruption of democracy, the interference, the manipulation of minds, crime syndicates, AI-driven wars that go uncontrollable ... the stuff of science fiction,” he said.
Mr. Musk, a co-founder of OpenAI, has often voiced the same concern, that AI could help advance or destroy civilization, depending on how it’s wielded.
Last week, the tech billionaire attended a closed-door Senate forum with other industry leaders to discuss how the AI field might be regulated. Touching on that topic on Sept. 18, he said he thought the creation of an AI regulatory agency would be a good place to start.
“You start off with a team that gathers insight to get maximum understanding, then you have some proposed rulemaking, and then, eventually, you have regulations that are put in place,” he said.
“What game doesn’t have a referee?” he added. “You need someone to make sure that people are playing fairly, not breaking the rules.”
However, Mr. Musk said that one question that he’s often asked is whether he thinks China would comply with such regulations. He said China seems to take the matter “very seriously.”
“When I was in China a few months ago, meeting with some of the senior leadership, my primary topic was AI safety and regulation,” he said. “And they, after we had a long discussion, agreed that there’s merit to AI regulation and immediately took action in this regard.”
The Chinese Communist Party, he said, “prefers to be in charge” of China, and the concept of ceding that power to digital superintelligence is “not something that appeals to them.”
Anti-Semitism
Other topics addressed during the conversation on X included free speech and anti-Semitism, an issue that Mr. Netanyahu asked Mr. Musk to address “within the confines of the First Amendment.”“I encourage you and urge you to find the balance. It’s a tough one,” the prime minister said.
In taking over Twitter late last year and transforming it into X, Mr. Musk evolved the platform into one that embraces free speech, with the caveat that disfavored speech has limited visibility.
The new policy has been criticized by some on the left, who say it has allowed hate speech and anti-Semitism to flourish on X. Mr. Musk, however, said that of the hundreds of millions of posts per day on the website, “some of those are going to be bad.”
“Obviously, I’m against anti-Semitism,” he added. “I’m anti, really, anything that promotes hate and conflict. And I’m in favor of that which helps a bold society and takes us to a better future for humanity collectively.”
Mr. Netanyahu met on Sept. 20 with President Joe Biden in New York, where he was to address the U.N. General Assembly.
