The chair of the ABC has warned that AI could become \u201cdangerous and sinister\u201d considering some who finance it hold views that are \u201cextremely autocratic\u201d.<\/p>\n
Kim Williams, who has been chair of the national broadcaster since March 2024, is a prolific user of various AI applications, including ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity, saying it is important for people to understand the technology.<\/p>\n
\u201cI make myself use it and try to understand it \u2026 I don\u2019t pretend to be an expert, but I\u2019m certainly actively, passionately interested because it\u2019s the next major technology that is going to change our world,\u201d he told Guardian Australia.<\/p>\n
Sign up: AU Breaking News email<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cAs with all technology, this is an immensely useful tool. But it\u2019s a tool and we should not treat it as so many others \u2026 have: in a rather undisciplined, romantic way.\u201d<\/p>\n Williams warned that technology can encompass the values of those who create or control it, and said he was concerned what this might mean for AI.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are many value constructs that are reflected in AI that can be seen in some ways as being potentially dangerous and sinister,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cMany of the participants in the financing \u2013 and even in the origination and leadership of some of the AI [companies] \u2013 have unusually severe views of human organisation and politics, and in some instances \u2026 have views that are extremely autocratic, and believe in an anointed few being in charge of the many.\u201d<\/p>\n Williams said that as a believer in democracy and the contest of ideas, it\u2019s \u201cclearly immensely socially dangerous\u201d for people to limit and censor the views of those they disagree with.<\/p>\n \u201cWe should not underestimate the potency and power of these technologies \u2013 and we are seeing living examples of the technologies in the hands of some governments, where we have real life demonstrations of just how dangerous this can be.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked whether, he thought media organisations \u2013 including News Corp<\/a> and the Guardian<\/a> \u2013 should be signing deals with AI companies, Williams said everyone needed to carry the responsibility of using these technologies with a sense of the public and national interest.<\/p>\n \u201cI speak about it openly with colleagues because I think these things are immensely important.\u201d<\/p>\n Kim Williams says: \u2018I think the impact on journalism will probably be a lot more benign. Well, actually, a lot more positive than people think \u2026\u2019 Photograph: Mike Bowers\/The Guardian<\/p>\n