LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman joined other tech moguls in voicing concern about artificial intelligence on Wednesday.
"It has great potential, but we need to steer carefully," Hoffman said on "Halftime Report."
Hoffman stressed corporate transparency when asked what happens if companies use AI to attack nation-states. The possibility of manipulating how people consume information remains an unanswered question. During last year's U.S. presidential election, Facebook advertisements linked to Russia mainly focused on the states of Michigan and Wisconsin, and Hoffman says information battles are "in the very early days."
AI must be improved, Hoffman says, to "[hold] corporations accountable" when nation-states are using the technology to attack.
"Corporations normally deal with other corporations, not with governments," Hoffman said.
The "ultimate" solution, he says, is "having more kinds of functions and features within AI that show abhorrent patterns." That way patterns raise a red flag for humans to investigate, Hoffman noted.
Elon Musk cosigned a letter in August with over 100 leaders in robotics, including Google's Mustafa Suleyman, in a call to the United Nations to prevent the development and use of killer robots. On Sept. 4, Musk followed up with a warning, saying "China, Russia, soon all countries w strong computer science. Competition for AI superiority at national level most likely cause of WW3 imo [in my opinion]."
While Hoffman was also cautionary in his remarks, he remains more hopeful than Musk. AI could "accelerate toward a good future," he said.
"That's the good thing about software; if something doesn't work, we fix it," Hoffman added. "All technology in time."