Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang has argued that artificial intelligence companies should decide whether new versions of the technology are safe to release, rejecting calls for additional laws or regulations as concerns about AI’s risks grow.
“We don't need new laws or regulations,” Huang said at a Salesforce conference in San Francisco, according to the BBC. He described the current advances as “a new industrial revolution” and said companies should pursue innovation and speed while ensuring their products are safe.
Huang said safety should be treated as an engineering issue. He added that an AI company should pause a release if its leadership lacks confidence in the product or believes the organisation is no longer in control. “Safety is paramount,” he said.
His position differs from that of several current and former employees of AI-focused companies. The BBC reported that a former Anthropic researcher recently claimed unchecked AI could kill all humans by the end of the decade, a warning that drew support from some executives and experts. Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei subsequently called for the pace of AI development to slow and urged governments to regulate the sector.
Anthropic co-founder Jack Clark told the BBC that leaving AI as a “totally unregulated industry” would involve “immense risks”. Patrick Hillman, chief business officer at Logical Intelligence, also questioned whether technology companies could be trusted to act in the public interest, saying both Silicon Valley and Washington had earned public scepticism.
At the same time, AI companies are discussing voluntary safety arrangements. Amodei said Anthropic was in talks with other firms about improved safety standards and checks. OpenAI executive Chris Lehane said his company was working with AI laboratories including Anthropic and Google DeepMind on voluntary frontier-AI standards, with or without government support.