Georgetown University Study Quips: Only a Measly 2% of AI Research is Focused on Safety!
“Just 2% of AI research is looking at safety, says Georgetown University study”
“Only two percent of artificial intelligence (AI) research is currently dedicated to safety, according to a recent Georgetown University study.”
Get this; in a field that’s evolving faster than you can say ‘Artificial Intelligence’, most of the focus is on anything but creating a safety net. Bold move, don’t you think?
Leaving aside the wild dash for “innovation”, it seems a mere sprinkle (a paltry 2% to be exact) of all this collective genius is being directed toward keeping the machines in check. This revelation by Georgetown University is equivalent to standing on a rickety ladder and then realizing no one thought it might be a good idea to hold it steady; a perfect Hollywood-style plot twist.
Let’s play a game of numbers: ten years, 164,000 AI-related publications, and hold your breath, a grand total of… wait for it… 2% of these centered on safety and ethics. That’s sweet, isn’t it? All this hype about AI, the promises of salubrious advancements, a glittering techno-future – and no one’s barely raising a noise about safety. There’s something inherently attractive about playing the odds, it seems.
The report by the Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET) at Georgetown University adds a pinch of spice to this recipe of potential disaster, doesn’t it? There’s no mention of a ‘steady increase’ in safety-related work, no comforting hug of statistical coverage. Nope, just the cold fact that out of every 10 AI papers, only two bother to contemplate the ethics or safety implications of AI.
But wait! There’s more! If you delve into the nitty-gritty of the report, there’s a gem of a fact: significant strides have been made in this area in the last decade alone! A whole 44% increase, in fact. But let’s remember, that’s a 44% hike on barely anything – of a teeny tiny original portion. So, the trauma-inducing truth? Despite all the fancy strides and leaps, safety’s contribution to AI research is still a speck of dust when compared to the monster-sized, all-encompassing AI wave.
Hopefully, this dose of cold reality will serve as the wake-up call that decision-makers in the AI field need. Until then, the rest of us peons can only watch and wonder what marvelous unforeseen calamity we might have to clean up.