AI could kill all humans in next decade, warn experts: but how seriously should we take them?
AI could kill all humans in next decade, warn experts: but how seriously should we take them?. Illustration: Ales Utouka/AlamyAI could kill all humans in next decade, warn experts: but how seriously should we take them?
What happened
Alarming warnings from industry insiders increase pressure for curbs on artificial superintelligenceDoes artificial superintelligence really pose a risk greater than nuclear weapons? Is there a significant chance of “a Chornobyl-sized catastrophe”. Might there even be a greater than 10% chance that AI could “kill all humans” in the next decade? These warnings were issued over the past 48 hours on both sides of the Atlantic about the potential impact of a technology that most people still think of as a more talkative search engine. Continue reading. . .
On Tuesday night, a senior employee at Anthropic admitted he believed there was a greater than 10% chance the technology could “kill all humans” in the next decade and warned that his AI company did not have a plan to ensure ASI was aligned, meaning it did no harm. Might there even be a greater than 10% chance that AI could “kill all humans” in the next decade? BOOK NOW Most Popular Revolut confirms customer data breach through fake government requests Jagmeet Singh OpenAI puts Pro subscriptions on hold due to Astra demand Sarah Perez ID verification giant IDScan confirms data breach with more than 150 million driver’s licenses stolen Zack Whittaker Automattic’s board forces CEO Matt Mullenweg into leave of absence Julie Bort Sarah Perez Apple unveils its first foldable, the iPhone Duo Ivan Mehta ‘Gambling with our lives’: Anthropic researcher quits, warns against self-improving AI Rebecca Bellan OpenAI fought dirty on career-making math problem, says NYU mathematician Russell Brandom Loading the next article Error loading the next article
Photograph: Dado Ruvić/ReutersAnalysis‘Too little, too late’: critics perplexed and suspicious of AI leaders’ call for a slowdownRobert Booth UK technology editorFrom the Trump administration to AI experts, plans by the Anthropic boss to boost safety have spawned a largely negative response OpenAI boss and Elon Musk back slowdown on ‘reckless’ AI development Editorial: controlling AI – humanity cannot outsource its survival The safety debate that ignited when whistleblowers last week warned that the most advanced AI poses an existential threat to humanity should come with a health warning: side effects include whiplash.
By Wednesday, cutting-edge AI started to look a lot less appealing when the resigning Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon warned “the people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade”. “We must therefore be completely clear about why we are inventing these systems and how we intend to control them. ” The code of conduct also lays out general principles that Microsoft AI models should uphold — supporting humans rather than replacing them, for instance, and accelerating human flourishing — as well as specific safety constraints meant to implement those principles.
The wider picture
He pointed to polling suggesting that 81% of Americans believed their politicians should take action. Doomspeak or not, we must take these claims seriouslyUK economy unexpectedly grows 0. Yes, he was talking about artificial superintelligence – an as-yet-nonexistent version of the technology that outcompetes humans in most domains – but his comments, and the chorus of experts that echoed him, jangled plenty of nerves. The document begins with the prediction that, in the next decade, superintelligent AI systems will surpass human performance in most tasks.
You should listen to the warnings about AIAlex TurnerWe must stop companies from allowing AI to self-improve into an uncontrollable level of intelligence Major AI lab CEOs advocated for slowing the pace of AI development this weekend. For the swarm to achieve its misaligned priorities, it might take control of key infrastructure and government functions to ensure humans didn’t get in the way. The questions running through the play are manifold, complex and echo those asked by sci-fi writers for decades: can robots hurt humans?
Alarming warnings from industry insiders increase pressure for curbs on artificial superintelligenceDoes artificial superintelligence really pose a risk greater than nuclear weapons?
What has been reported
These warnings were issued over the past 48 hours on both sides of the Atlantic about the potential impact of a technology that most people still think of as a more talkative search engine. The nuclear warnings came from Des Browne, a former defence secretary, and Prof Stuart Russell, an eminent Berkeley computer scientist. Beatrice Fihn, who won the 2017 Nobel peace prize for leading the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, told parliamentarians: “It is not the first time we’re confronted with abilities that could end up killing us all. ”The session on Monday was convened by Control AI, a lobbying group pushing for international regulation of the technology.
Predictions for when ASI might be reached vary from several years to more than a decade. From what I understand he was fine with becoming extinct. ”Tallinn’s lobby group ran the session for MPs and peers at Westminster on Monday and urged them to back measures to curb the most powerful AI models. The politicians heard from Russell, who made the Chornobyl warning and said: “The other possibility is a much larger catastrophe, in which humanity loses control irreversibly.
Dr Andrew Rogoyski, of the Surrey Institute for People-Centred AI, said: “In reality, these systems are nowhere near as versatile as humans, let alone humans acting collectively. So far we have neither, but a superabundance of hype combined with a striking lack of prudence on OpenAI’s part has gotten us where we are, with intense mistrust all around. ”Explore more on these topicsAI (artificial intelligence)AnthropicComputer science and ITOpenAIComputingnewsShareReuse this contentMore on this storyMore on this storyTrump attacks ‘sick conspiracy’ against AI as tech stocks slideOpenAI urges UK lawmakers to rein in technology amid growing safety fears OpenAI boss and Elon Musk back calls to put brakes on ‘reckless’ AI developmentUK lawmakers urge Burnham to back ban on superintelligent AI after chilling warningsThe Guardian view on controlling AI: humanity cannot outsource its survivalTech whistleblowers warn AI could wipe out humanity.
What happens next
4% in July boosted by AIAnthropic details bad actors’ efforts to misuse its AI for bioweaponsMore Anthropic researchers warn of AI’s perils but Musk dismisses ‘psyop’OpenAI not on track to reduce risk of ‘catastrophic’ loss of control, says board memberMost viewedMost viewed It was only seven days ago that AI enthusiasts were cheerily toying with OpenAI’s newest model GPT-6 Astra which was marketed in part as a lifestyle tool to help people book tennis courts, run fashion companies and order takeaways.
Never mind that his own employees had seeded the borderline panic only a few days earlier, Amodei was here to save us from fears of AI Armageddon, but not before his own spicy warning that the accelerating rate of capabilities meant a swarm of AI agents “could be capable of taking over the entire internet” in six to 12 months. “If they were to pull away from us on AI, then nothing else would matter. ”People close to Trump also wonder why Amodei and the rest of the AI leaders do not get on with pacing AI development themselves.
Another criticism of Amodei’s call for “pacing” of AI progress to allow safety measures and guardrails to keep up has came from Prof Stuart Russell, one of the world’s leading AI experts. Imagine if a pharmaceutical company said: ‘We’re going to release a new cancer drug every year, and we hope that provides enough time for some clinical trials to be completed and for the results to be good. ’”AI experts not working for the big labs were also suspicious about a plan for a global regulatory framework for AI drafted by the leader of the world’s most-valuable AI company.
Disrupt 2026: OpenAI, Anthropic, Replit, and more take over 6 industry stages.
The report has been compiled by The Daily Waves using information reported across theguardian.com, techcrunch.com. Details are presented according to the information available at the time of publication and may change as authorities, organisers or other relevant parties provide updates.