Barry Diller shares urgent warning about AI
Michael Loccisano/Getty Images for Semafor
- Billionaire Barry Diller said it's time to get serious about regulating AI.
- The media mogul pointed to deepfake videos of political leaders as examples of the dangers.
- Diller gave legislators two steps they should be racing to take in the fight against AI.
Artificial intelligence continues to be top of mind for powerful people wary of its potential uses.
The latest titan to voice alarm is media billionaire Barry Diller, who raised his concerns about AI to CNBC on Thursday. According to him, we're running out of time to stop it from getting out of control.
"All attention should go towards regulating artificial intelligence, and we don't have a minute to lose," the IAC chairman said.
He pointed to an April Fools' Day video making the rounds online that depicted "absolutely perfect replicas" of Joe Biden and Donald Trump speaking gibberish.
"When you have that, how do you know where truth is?" Diller asked.
It's unclear exactly which video Diller saw, but it's not the first time convincing imagery has turned out to be created by AI. In August, Pope Francis warned about the dangers of AI after a deepfake of him wearing an all-white puffer coat went viral online.
Diller's solution: "We've got to have legislation that says it is illegal to make up something, take someone's persona, and manufacture something that is not them."
First, he recommends "reasonably protective" laws that also allow AI to flourish. Second, Diller said it's time to redefine fair use — a doctrine that permits the unlicensed use of copyrighted material —as it relates to AI. And it can't come a moment sooner, he said.
It's not the first time the Expedia executive called out AI makers. In 2023, Diller issued a call to action to publishers to sue over their content being used by AI.
"The idea that you can sweep up, for instance, all of Expedia's content — and use it — that it took us billions of dollars to create is nuts," Diller said Thursday.