--- title: "Experts Terrified by Mark Zuckerberg’s Human-Tier AI Plans" description: "Mark Zuckerberg is planning to spend billions of dollars to build and open-source human-level AI — and that idea is pretty freaky." date: "2024-01-22" modified: "2024-01-22" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/experts-terrified-zuckerberg-agi" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" tags: - "agi" - "mark zuckerberg" - "Meta" - "the digest" --- # Experts Terrified by Mark Zuckerberg’s Human-Tier AI Plans ![Mark Zuckerberg is planning to spend billions of dollars to build and open-source human-level AI — and that idea is pretty freaky.]() *\Image: Mandel Ngan / Pool via Getty / Futurism\* ## Foreboding Last week, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg announced that he's [going to purchase]() hundreds of thousands of expensive AI processing chips — and experts are mighty worried about what he plans to use them for. In the [same Instagram post]() announcing his planned purchase of 350,000 Nvidia's H100 graphics chips, which [average about $30,000 apiece]() and are [considered the gold standard]() for powering AI models, Zuckerberg said that he wants to build an open-source artificial AGI, the industry term for the point at which AI reaches or even surpasses human-level intelligence. While there's still an open debate about [whether AGI is even possible](), the prospect itself is enough to give some researchers pause. "The thought of open source AGI being released before we have worked out how to regulate these very powerful AI systems is really very scary," Dame Wendy Hall, a computer scientist at the University of Southampton in England and a member of the United Nations' AI advisory board, [told *The Guardian*](). "In the wrong hands technology like this could do a great deal of harm. It is so irresponsible for a company to suggest it." AGI is likely still "many years away," Hall added, which gives society time to get a regulatory framework in order. Nevertheless, "it is a matter of public safety that we progress this work with some urgency," she said. https://twitter.com/BrianRoemmele/status/1748133848804884849 ## Open Scaries Andrew Rogoyski, one of the directors of the Institute for People-Centred AI at the University of Surrey, echoed the Hall's concerns about Meta being a potential player in AGI. "There are deep and complex arguments about the merits of open-sourcing current AI models, pushing that into the realm of AGI could be world-saving or catastrophic," Rogoyski told the newspaper. "These decisions need to be taken by international consensus, not in the boardroom of a tech giant." Meta's open-source AI dreams have long drawn criticism. Last summer, Hall even [told *The Guardian*]() that open-sourcing the company's Llama 2 large language model (LLM) was a "bit like giving people a template to build a nuclear bomb" because of how accessible it is for anyone to use. Meta, of course, is far from the only company trying to build AGI. But among its competitors like OpenAI and Google DeepMind, it seems to be the only one that wants to open source the potentially world-changing models — raising a host of concerns. **More on AGI:** [*Sam Altman Says Human-Tier AI Is Coming Soon*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()