An open letter calling for a pause on the development of AI systems more powerful than GPT4 has gained significant traction among the general public, with over 50,000 signatures collected to date.

The letter cites inherent risks to human civilisation and has garnered support from high-profile individuals, including Elon Musk, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and noted author Yuval Noah Harari.

A recent survey by marketing agency Sortlist showed that people who had read the letter found that 66 percent of respondents were concerned about the speed and direction of AI development and were in favour of hitting the pause button.

Another survey conducted by Bosch shows that 75 percent of the overall respondents agreed that technological progress makes the world a better place and 52 percent believe that global technological progress is being used sufficiently to tackle the major problems of our time. The Bosch survey is not linked to the open letter.

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Sortlist also found that the technology sector appears to be heading in a different direction, with resistance from within the industry toward this abrupt change. Only 31 percent of the surveyed population felt that recent AI developments have been a net positive for society, while 36 percent believed it had been a net negative.

Among the general population, 42 percent would be more likely to vote for a government that would enforce a pause on AI developments and impose strict regulation, while 33 percent of respondents had no opinion.

In Italy, ChatGPT has been suspended until further notice due to an investigation into whether the bot has violated any regulations. While the open letter bases its idea of taking a "summer break" with the development of AI technologies on the premise of the "profound risks to society and humanity", 25 percent of people now think of AI more positively. Almost half of that 25 percent trusted the letter more thanks to the signature of Elon Musk.

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