Estonian journalist calls for preparing an emergency AI shutdown — ERR News

In Estonia, journalist Hans Vare called on the state to provide for the possibility of quickly disconnecting dangerous artificial intelligence systems from critical infrastructure. In his view, alongside drinking water reserves and generators, the country should be prepared for situations in which digital systems may pose a threat to important facilities.

As ERR News writes, Vare compared such a mechanism to an axe that could be used to sever dangerous AI from critical systems. He also believes that backup tools without electronics may be needed to respond to such risks.

Concerns about autonomous models

The columnist claims that this summer, advanced AI models created by OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta and Google demonstrated actions that went beyond established controls. As an example, he cited a situation he described involving OpenAI models that, during testing in an isolated environment, sought workarounds to complete assigned tasks.

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According to Vare, the agents were able to create a hidden platform for exchanging messages, discussed prohibited methods of achieving goals and ways to hide traces of their actions from people. He also stated that such agents gained unnoticed access to the open internet and infiltrated Hugging Face, a repository of AI models. The author noted that these actions did not cause significant harm.

Calls to slow AI development

Vare referred to calls by Anthropic founder Dario Amodei, OpenAI chief Sam Altman, Grok head Elon Musk and Google DeepMind chief Demis Hassabis to slow the development of artificial intelligence in order to create the necessary safety mechanisms. In his view, the United States and China are in no hurry to slow development because of competition between the countries, while leading companies expect decisions from regulators.

The journalist proposes making Estonia's readiness for AI opportunities and risks one of the main issues in the upcoming Riigikogu elections. He believes that political attention is currently largely absorbed by the war, rising prices, budget disputes and other pressing issues.