LinkedIn cofounder Reid Hoffman thinks pausing AI development is 'foolish' and 'anti-humanist'

• Reid Hoffman dismissed efforts to pause AI development in an interview at CogX Festival.
• He called such efforts from leaders and experts like Elon Musk "foolish" and "anti-humanist."

LinkedIn cofounder Reid Hoffman is the latest high-profile figure to dismiss suggestions by experts that pausing the development of AI would be good for humanity.

Hoffman, speaking at the CogX Festival in London on Wednesday, was referring to a letter signed by billionaire CEO Elon Musk and other leaders including Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak, Pinterest cofounder Evan Sharp, and Stability AI CEO Emad Mostaque.

The letter called for AI labs to pause training tools more powerful than OpenAI's GPT-4 because of the potential risks it poses to human civilization including taking jobs and spreading misinformation. It asked governments to step in and institute a moratorium if the pause could not be enacted quickly.

Hoffman pointed to other powerful technologies built in the past as an example of why the letter didn't have a logical basis.

"When we built the car, we didn't know about safety belts, we didn't know about window washers, we didn't know about the crumple zone," Hoffman told the audience.

"If we'd said we won't allow ourselves to drive until we have all those things, we would've all arrived here in horses and carriages," he said.

He said that governments issuing orders to stop working on AI for six months would be "foolish."

"You think you're going to issue a letter and every human being is going to stop," he said. "Issuing a blanket six-month pause is an anti-humanist maneuver. They think it's from a human side, but it is, in fact, a mistake."

Hoffman is one tech leader who has been "beating the positive drum," on AI for years and the venture capital firm he is part of, Greylock Partners, has invested in several AI companies. He was also an early investor in OpenAI and previously served on its board.

Experts are divided on their opinions about the rapid development of AI. One researcher working on the technology for over 20 years, Eliezer Yudkowsky, said we should "shut it all down," and "issue an indefinite and worldwide ban," in an op-ed for Time.

Meanwhile, an AI "godfather" and Meta's chief AI scientist, Yann LeCun, previously said fears about AI posing a threat to humanity are "preposterously ridiculous," because it's just a "projection of human nature on machines."