Reinforcement learning pioneers harshly criticize the "unsafe" state of AI development

Who are they? Richard Sutton and Andrew Barto are pioneers of reinforcement learning, a machine learning technique modern AI models utilize. Sutton is often referred to as the "father of reinforcement learning" and serves as a professor at the University of Alberta. Barto is a professor emeritus at the University of Massachusetts. Both scientists are not particularly pleased with how AI companies are applying their life's work. Richard Sutton and Andrew Barto won this year's Turing Award, considered the Nobel Prize for computing, for their significant contributions to machine learning development. The two researchers are now speaking out against OpenAI, Google, and other AI companies releasing potentially dangerous software to end customers. They criticized ChatGPT as just a money-making machine that will never produce a working artificial general intelligence (AGI). Sutton and Barto developed reinforcement learning (RL) during the 1980s, inspired by behaviorist psychology. Reinforce ... Read full article.