Doomsday tech: Could AI really kill us all?

Stark warnings from artificial intelligence researchers that advanced forms of the technology could wipe out humanity have raised questions over whether governments are moving fast enough to regulate it. What are the potential dangers of “superintelligent” computer systems, and should we be worried? What’s the worst-case scenario? AI experts have long described the threat as critical. In 2023, hundreds of AI scientists and industry figures, including the heads of top US labs, signed a “statement on AI extinction risk” calling for the issue to be treated as seriously as pandemics or nuclear war. If an out-of-control future AI deems that humans are obstructing its goals, it could use robots to “synthesise and spread novel pathogens”, said Stuart Russell, computer science professor at the University of California, Berkeley.

Or it could “convince people to initiate nuclear war, including by hacking into early warning systems”, Russell, a prominent voice on AI safety, told AFP. Such existential fears do not concern current AI systems, he stressed. But as the technology improves, it could take lethal action beyond our understanding, such as by removing oxygen from the atmosphere. “We are less intelligent than superintelligent AI. If you ask chimpanzees how humans could wipe them out, they probably wouldn’t be able to give you all the right answers. ” In the meantime, “in the next year or two I think the risk is higher from human misuse,” Russell added — such as an AI-enabled terror attack. Why don’t AI labs stop? “The stakes are well-understood,” Jacob Coxon, a 27-year-old researcher, wrote on X this week, announcing his resignation from US AI startup Anthropic. “But they are locked in a race to get there first,” he added, saying that Anthropic “believe no one else will act…