An AI ‘kill switch’ could go as far as shutting down the internet

Amid a wave of industry leaders and policymakers urging one another to regulate and decelerate the rapid progress of artificial intelligence, the idea of an AI “kill switch” is growing more prominent.

A “kill switch” for AI is a catch-all phrase for any type of guardrail that could prevent or disrupt AI agents from taking unwanted action. It includes software and hardware interference.

Members of Congress from both parties have introduced “kill switch” bills that would require AI developers to maintain the ability to suspend or shut down their products, though some Senate Republicans remain opposed.

Even Anthropic co-founder Jack Clark floated the idea of mandatory "kill switches" for AI systems, telling BBC on Sept. 14, “I think that’s the kind of thing society is going to want to know and might want to eventually pass rules around.”

But what exactly a “kill switch” would look like – and the likelihood of it being effectively implemented – is still widely debated.

The definition of a “kill switch” depends on the scale at which one plans to use it.

“At a very local level, like a building or data center or something like that, it could be trivially easy,” said Michael…

Original source: https://www.usatoday.com/money/