Edward Snowden Says Current Training Models Are Restricting AI's True Power

Former NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, said Artificial Intelligence (AI) models can soon surpass human capabilities if they are not taught to think like humans but are allowed to “be better than us.”

What Happened: The President of the Freedom of the Press Foundation, who virtually joined the Consensus 2023 conference from Russia, said the current training methods revolve around teaching AI models to "think like us," reported CoinDesk.

"As with children, we don’t need machines to be like us," Snowden said, adding that "we need them to be better than us. And if they aren’t better than us, we did a terrible job."

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Snowden also pointed out that AI models could obstruct government surveillance rather than fuel invasive intelligence programs. “Maybe they could stop spying on the public and start spying for the public," Snowden said. 

"That’d be a net good.”

Snowden echoed experts' warnings that AI technologies might empower bad actors. He cautioned that the introduction of advanced AI models such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT might lead to the advancement of initiatives by tech giants and governments that may intrude upon civilians’ privacy.

Why It Matters: The launch of an advanced language model — ChatGPT — last year came as a boon for AI that shocked the world with its capability of mimicking human language and writing styles. However, it also sparked concerns among experts about privacy and misuse of personal data, who argued that it’s important to ensure these technologies are used responsibly and ethically.

Last month, Italy became the first Western country to ban the advanced chatbot ChatGPT due to concerns about privacy issues related to the model. For the uninitiated, Italy isn't the first country to ban emerging tech — it’s also not available in China, Iran, North Korea, and Russia.

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