US and China ‘intertwined like conjoined twins’, says Musk
Elon Musk said the interests of the US and China are “intertwined like conjoined twins” during his surprise visit to China on Tuesday amid strained diplomatic ties between the countries. The Tesla billionaire reached Beijing in his first visit to the country in over three years, visited China’s top ministries and discussed electric vehicles. Mr Musk also met China’s foreign, commerce, and industry ministers and dined with Zeng Yuqun, the chairman of top battery supplier CATL. The visit garnered a lot of attention in China and revealed adulation for Mr Musk from Chinese social media users, even as the relationship between Washington and Beijing plummeted. “The interests of the United States and China are intertwined like conjoined twins,” Mr Musk was quoted as saying by the foreign ministry of China. He was later also quoted by the country’s commerce ministry as saying that relations between the two countries were not a zero-sum game in which one side must lose if the other were to win. While little is known of the discussions the Twitter chief is having – as he remains unusually quiet on social media – Mr Musk and industry minister Jin Zhuanglong “exchanged views on the development of new energy vehicles and intelligent networked vehicles”, said the ministry. China, responsible for half of all global electric vehicle sales, serves as the location for Tesla’s first factory outside the US. The company reportedly submitted applications to expand its production facilities in Shanghai. Mr Musk’s plans were still awaiting approval as he earlier said it faces some “constraints”. The talks are expected to be aimed at easing this expansion, believe observers. The billionaire’s visit has also generated a lot of interest among China’s netizens. Some called him “a pioneer” and “Brother Ma”, in an oblique reference to Jack Ma, while others said he should become the next US president. “He’s a global idol,” wrote one Chinese social media user. “Elon Musk is just great, if only China could have someone like Elon Musk,” said another. In recent months, foreign companies have been facing increasing pressure in China, with a recent crackdown on international consulting firms. Both the US and China have also imposed restrictions on each other’s chipmakers. American companies are also facing pressure from outside as increasing threats of military escalation with Taiwan forces businesses to diversify their supply chains away from China. Mr Musk, however, touted the Asian country’s development as its ministers assured they were looking at increased cooperation. The Chinese government statement cited Mr Musk as saying Tesla was willing to expand its business in China and “opposes decoupling” – a reference to fears the world may split into multiple markets with incompatible products. On Tuesday, foreign minister Qin Gang told Mr Musk that China will “unswervingly promote high-level opening up” and create a “market-oriented, law-based and internationalised business environment”, said the government statement. “China’s development is an opportunity for the world,” it said. Mr Qin also told Mr Musk that China’s electric vehicle market “has broad prospects for development”. Mr Musk is expected to meet other senior Chinese officials and visit the Shanghai plant later in the week, reported Reuters citing sources. With China's economy also experiencing a slowdown and facing internal and external challenges, like anti-monopoly measures and the US-Chinese political tensions respectively, the ruling Communist Party has been engaging with more prominent CEOs off late. Chinese premier Li Qiang earlier held discussions with Apple’s Tim Cook, Pfizer’s Albert Bourla, Rio Tinto’s Jakob Stausholm and Toshiaki Higashihara of Hitachi, reiterating China's commitment to creating a favourable business environment. Read More Elon Musk meets Chinese foreign minister on first visit for three years What is superintelligence? How AI could wipe out humanity – and why the boss of ChatGPT is doomsday prepping Tesla's Musk meets Chinese foreign minister, who calls for 'mutual respect' in US-China relations Shanghai breaks 100-year-old heat record amid intense heatwave Keeping 1.5C alive ‘bottom of desired outcomes for global businesses at Cop28’ Typhoon Mawar inches closer to Japan threatening to bring heavy rains and winds
2023-05-31 20:57
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‘I feel lost’ – AI pioneer speaks out as experts warn it could wipe out humanity
One of the “godfathers” of artificial intelligence (AI) has said he feels “lost” as experts warned the technology could lead to the extinction of humanity. Professor Yoshua Bengio told the BBC that all companies building AI products should be registered and people working on the technology should have ethical training. It comes after dozens of experts put their name to a letter organised by the Centre for AI Safety, which warned that the technology could wipe out humanity and the risks should be treated with the same urgency as pandemics or nuclear war. Prof Bengio said: “It is challenging, emotionally speaking, for people who are inside (the AI sector). It's exactly like climate change. We've put a lot of carbon in the atmosphere. And it would be better if we hadn't, but let's see what we can do now Professor Yoshua Bengio “You could say I feel lost. But you have to keep going and you have to engage, discuss, encourage others to think with you.” Senior bosses at companies such as Google DeepMind and Anthropic signed the letter along with another pioneer of AI, Geoffrey Hinton, who resigned from his job at Google earlier this month, saying that in the wrong hands, AI could be used to to harm people and spell the end of humanity. Experts had already been warning that the technology could take jobs from humans, but the new statement warns of a deeper concern, saying AI could be used to develop new chemical weapons and enhance aerial combat. AI apps such as Midjourney and ChatGPT have gone viral on social media sites, with users posting fake images of celebrities and politicians, and students using ChatGPT and other “language learning models” to generate university-grade essays. But AI can also perform life-saving tasks, such as algorithms analysing medical images like X-rays, scans and ultrasounds, helping doctors to identify and diagnose diseases such as cancer and heart conditions more accurately and quickly. Last week Prime Minister Rishi Sunak spoke about the importance of ensuring the right “guard rails” are in place to protect against potential dangers, ranging from disinformation and national security to “existential threats”, while also driving innovation. He retweeted the Centre for AI Safety’s statement on Wednesday, adding: “The government is looking very carefully at this. Last week I stressed to AI companies the importance of putting guardrails in place so development is safe and secure. But we need to work together. That’s why I raised it at the @G7 and will do so again when I visit the US.” Prof Bengio told the BBC all companies building powerful AI products should be registered. “Governments need to track what they’re doing, they need to be able to audit them, and that’s just the minimum thing we do for any other sector like building aeroplanes or cars or pharmaceuticals,” he said. “We also need the people who are close to these systems to have a kind of certification… we need ethical training here. Computer scientists don’t usually get that, by the way.” Prof Bengio said of AI’s current state: “It’s never too late to improve. “It’s exactly like climate change. We’ve put a lot of carbon in the atmosphere. And it would be better if we hadn’t, but let’s see what we can do now.” We don't quite know how to understand the absolute consequences of this technology Professor Sir Nigel Shadbolt Oxford University expert Sir Nigel Shadbolt, chairman of the London-based Open Data Institute, told the BBC: “We have a huge amount of AI around us right now, which has become almost ubiquitous and unremarked. There’s software on our phones that recognise our voices, the ability to recognise faces. “Actually, if we think about it, we recognise there are ethical dilemmas in just the use of those technologies. I think what’s different now though, with the so-called generative AI, things like ChatGPT, is that this is a system which can be specialised from the general to many, many particular tasks and the engineering is in some sense ahead of the science. “We don’t quite know how to understand the absolute consequences of this technology, we all have in common a recognition that we need to innovate responsibly, that we need to think about the ethnical dimension, the values that these systems embody. “We have to understand that AI is a huge force for good. We have to appreciate, not the very worst, (but) there are lots of existential challenges we face… our technologies are on a par with other things that might cut us short, whether it’s climate or other challenges we face. “But it seems to me that if we do the thinking now, in advance, if we do take the steps that people like Yoshua is arguing for, that’s a good first step, it’s very good that we’ve got the field coming together to understand that this is a powerful technology that has a dark and a light side, it has a yin and a yang, and we need lots of voices in that debate.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Cabinet approves Irish involvement in cyber-threat network Trust and ethics considerations ‘have come too late’ on AI technology Mitigating ‘extinction’ from AI should be ‘global priority’, experts say
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