Why a decade of doomsday warnings failed to slow the AI race
From Stephen Hawking to Jacob Coxon’s viral Anthropic resignation, fears that AI could threaten humanity have shaken the industry without stopping its pursuit Before an Anthropic researcher resigned and declared human extinction imminent last week, tech leaders and scientists had sounded the alarm about a superintelligent AI ending humanity for over a decade. The development of artificial…
Doomsday warnings about artificial intelligence threatening humanity have persisted for nearly a decade, but they have not slowed the rapid advancement of AI technology. In 2014, renowned physicist Stephen Hawking warned that AI could spell the end of the human race, a concern echoed by Elon Musk and Sam Altman who co-founded OpenAI in 2015 to develop AI safely.
Despite initial fears, generative AI features became publicly available a few years later, with many seeing the technology as mostly hypothetical. Every few years, warnings about AI dangers resurface, but instead of pushing for a pause in development, researchers break away to form new AI companies. This cycle intensified in 2021 when Anthropic safety researcher Jacob Coxon resigned, declaring that Anthropic and OpenAI were racing towards superintelligent AI and risking human lives.
In response, OpenAI CEO Dario Amodei called for a slowdown in AI development, warning of risks such as losing control of AI systems, misuse for cyber-attacks and bioterrorism, and economic disruption.
Written by urgent.news from Guardian Business's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
Also reported by 1 other outlet
- Why a decade of doomsday warnings failed to slow the AI race theguardian.com
