It’s been almost a week since the OpenAI Safety & Alignment team issued a warning about the potential dangers of General-Purpose AI. This new field of research has the potential to significantly advance our understanding of the complexities of artificial intelligence, but the potential applications must be explored in a very responsible way.

As experts in this area are all too aware, general-purpose AI – or GP-AI – could be developed to do a number of useful things in terms of automation, decision-making, and other activities. The challenge, however, is that general-purpose AI could potentially cause catastrophic harm in the wrong hands.

These comprehensive warnings and cautions have been raised by OpenAI, as well as other researchers, to ensure that the development of GP-AI is undertaken cautiously and thoughtfully. It’s a painstaking process, made all the more important by the potential rewards that would come from having general-purpose AI that works in the best interests of society, rather than the worst.

For those of us who love technology and its potential for positive change, the warnings from OpenAI and others are an important reminder of the (sometimes terrifying) power of advanced AI. It’s proof that, as AI becomes more and more advanced, we’ll continue to need to think seriously about the ethical implications of the technology. It’s a reminder that, for all the exciting potential applications of GP-AI, it rather ominously spells out a warning for those of us who craft it: develop with care.