Joseph Gordon-Levitt Sounds the Alarm on AI Models ‘Being Trained to Hijack Your Intimacy’

Actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt has warned that AI models are being "trained to hijack your intimacy" and urged public concern about the individuals developing this technology. In a New York Times video interview during his trip to the United Nations, Gordon-Levitt, co-founder of the Creators Coalition on AI, explained his focus on the situation.

Gordon-Levitt emphasized that listening to actors like him is not the best way to understand the issue; instead, viewers should read works by experts like Stuart Russell and Yoshua Bengio. He acknowledged that the technology is "fast-moving" and driven by leaders concerned with profits, which could lead to a dangerous future where companies design the future for their own benefit.

However, Gordon-Levitt disagreed with the idea that AI could "kill us all" by the end of the decade, stating that this simplifies the concerns. He highlighted the decline of democracy and human empathy as significant issues, with companies betting on the idea that AI will take over the entire economy, leading to totalitarianism.

The primary concern, according to Gordon-Levitt, is the individuals building AI, not the technology itself. He advocated for "human-centric digital governance" at the U.N., arguing that AI should be governed by people for people, not as a magic solution separate from humanity.