Last week, speaking to BBC Radio in an interview broadcast, Palantir CEO Alex Karp hit out at those who are calling for a pause on AI saying that they are doing so because they still don’t have a product ready.
Karp said that he believes that “many of the people asking for a pause, are asking for a pause because they have no product” and added, “people who have nothing to offer want to study AI.”
Palantir CEO lashes out at those calling for a pause on AI
He said that pausing AI development would mean that adversaries would get a lead in not only commercial – but also military operations. Karp stressed that “studying this and allowing other people to win both on commercial areas and on the battlefield” wouldn’t be a prudent strategy.
Notably, major tech companies across the world – especially in the US and China – are working to develop AI capabilities.
According to Karp, “It’s not like if we slow down, the AI race will stop. Every country in the world – especially our adversaries – cannot afford for us to have this advantage.”
US-China tech war
Notably, there is an AI war going on between the US and China. The Financial Times reported that Microsoft is shifting some AI experts from its office in China to Canada, which researchers have dubbed the “Vancouver Plan.”
While Microsoft has denied that any “Plan” is in place, it admitted “We are establishing a new lab in Vancouver that will be organisationally aligned with MSRA and designed to better engage with the engineering teams in Vancouver. The lab will be staffed with people from other MSR labs around the world, to include China.”
Tech leaders signed an open letter calling for a pause on AI
While Karp did not name any tech leader, his comments are in apparent reference to an open letter signed by over 31,000 people including Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak which called for an AI pause.
The letter from the Future of Life Institute which was published in March stated “we call on all AI labs to immediately pause for at least 6 months the training of AI systems more powerful than GPT-4. This pause should be public and verifiable, and include all key actors. If such a pause cannot be enacted quickly, governments should step in and institute a moratorium.”
The letter added, “AI labs and independent experts should use this pause to jointly develop and implement a set of shared safety protocols for advanced AI design and development that are rigorously audited and overseen by independent outside experts.”
Sam Altman also previously reacted to the letter
Previously, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman addressed the letter. Altman said, “I think moving with caution and an increasing rigor for safety issues is really important.” Previously also Altman admitted that AI made him a “little bit scared.”
Speaking at an MIT event Altman said, “The letter I don’t think was the optimal way to address it.” He added, “We are doing other things on top of GPT-4 that I think have all sorts of safety issues that are important to address and were totally left out of the letter.”
Countries are looking to regulate artificial intelligence
To be sure, Western countries are working on AI regulations. The EU is expected to come up with its AI regulations later this year – which might become the first comprehensive set of rules globally.
UK’s competition watchdog is also studying AI while US lawmakers grilled Altman last month to learn more about AI risks.
Musk has incidentally been lobbying for AI regulations in the US and last month met Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and other lawmakers to discuss AI regulations.
After his return from China last week, Musk said that the country is also working on AI regulations.
Musk finds Artificial Intelligence “dangerous”
Notably, Musk has called AI “dangerous” and called for its greater regulatory oversight. Last month, speaking at the Wall Street Journal CEO Summit, Musk said, “There is a risk that advanced AI either eliminates or constrains humanity’s growth.”
He warned that “It’s a small likelihood of annihilating humanity, but it’s not zero,” while adding there is a “non-zero chance of [AI] going full ‘Terminator’.”
Musk however added, “I don’t think AI will try to destroy all of humanity, but it might put us under strict control.”
Musk is launching his own AI startup
Meanwhile, Musk is starting his own AI startup “TruthGPT” and previously said that current AI models are “being trained to be politically correct, which is simply another way of … saying untruthful things.”
Musk is reportedly in talks with several Tesla and SpaceX investors for investing in the startup and has started hiring for the venture.
Musk has reportedly bought thousands of high-power GPU processors from Nvidia for his AI venture. NVDA sees a massive opportunity in AI chips especially as PC sales have fallen after the pandemic boost.
Nvidia stock soared after reporting bumper earnings
Nvidia reported its earnings for the fiscal first quarter of 2024 last month. Its revenues came in at $7.19 billion – well ahead of the $6.52 billion that analysts were expecting. The adjusted EPS of $1.09 was also higher than the 99 cents that analysts were expecting.
Importantly, it guided for revenues of $11 billion in the current quarter which smashed the consensus estimate of $7.15 billion.
The AI segment helped Nvidia post-better-than-expected earnings. The company’s CEO Jensen Huang said “The computer industry is going through two simultaneous transitions — accelerated computing and generative AI.”
He is bullish on the company’s AI business and said, “A trillion dollars of installed global data center infrastructure will transition from general purpose to accelerated computing as companies race to apply generative AI into every product, service and business process.”
The company’s CFO Colette Kress also echoed similar views and said, “Generative AI is driving exponential growth in compute requirements and a fast transition to NVIDIA accelerated computing, which is the most versatile, most energy-efficient, and the lowest TCO approach to train and deploy AI.”
Karp on the military role of AI
Karp meanwhile believes that the “single most important event” for AI won’t be models like ChatGPT but the military applications of AI. Palantir incidentally works with governments across the world and in Q1 2023, it generated $289 million in revenues from governments – of which $230 million was from the US government alone.
To put that in perspective, Palantir’s total revenues in the quarter were $525 million which means that over half of its revenues come from governments.
During the Q1 2023 earnings call also, Karp talked about the AI opportunity, and in his prepared remarks he said, “The depth of engagement with and demand for our new Artificial Intelligence Platform (AIP) is without precedent.”
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