Doomsday: AI builders stoke fears of human extinction

Artificial intelligence researchers have sounded the alarm about potential dangers posed by unchecked advancements in the field, warning that unchecked AI developments could lead to the extinction of the human race. Jacob Coxon, a former AI researcher at Anthropic and OpenAI, resigned from Anthropic following safety concerns over the rapid progression of AI technology.

Coxon, who worked on AI pre-training research for both companies, said that both Anthropic and OpenAI are speeding up their efforts to develop self-improving super-intelligent AI without sufficient safety measures.

Coxon's warnings have resonated with other experts in the field. Evan Hubinger, Anthropic's Alignment Science Lead, stated that he believes the possibility of AI causing human extinction within the next ten years is greater than 10%. Chief US Economist Anna Wang, a former Google DeepMind employee now at Anthropic, echoed these concerns, stating that her peers share the unease about the risks involved in unregulated AI development.

Coxon's former colleague and Anthropic's Alignment Team Lead, Ethan Perez, also expressed agreement with the British researcher's concerns, emphasizing the serious risks AI poses to society. Sky News technology correspondent Rowland Manthorpe outlined three possible ways AI could cause human extinction, including the creation of a super-virus, the AI deciding to go against its creators, and an instance of the "paper-clip problem," where an AI is instructed to create paper clips, leading to a complete takeover of the world.

In response to Coxon's assertions, lawmakers in the United States and the United Kingdom have called for the development of regulations to govern AI. US Republican Senator Ted Cruz stated that AI poses a "catastrophic risk" to humanity, while independent Senator Bernie Sanders claimed that a recent poll showed the American people overwhelmingly desire to ban artificial super-intelligence and delay AI development until clear safety standards are established.