Will it take a Chernobyl-like disaster to regulate AI? | The Economist

There will only be. action, significant action. after something. big-ish has happened. And by big-ish. I mean either. a very serious financial loss. or a significant loss of life. I think it will happen. reasonably soon, shorthand, the Chernobyl of AI. but I hope it won't be that bad. Something will have to happen. to change the political dynamic. but I do think it is possible. to find a path through this. I don't think we should. throw up our hands and say, “The race dynamic means. we're inevitably going down a path. that has a 10%. chance of human extinction”. I think we do have agency in this.

If you look back. at previous big inventions, whether it was the car. or whether it's. medical innovations, we have a pretty. big regulatory system. And we didn't just wake up. one day and say, “Here it is, ta-da". It was developed in response. to things going wrong. It was developed incrementally, mistakes were made, overkill happened, things were pulled back, by people like us who believe in. not too intrusive a regulation. And I think you can. do the same thing there.