Tech Leaders Warn AI Extinction Risk Matches Pandemics and Nuclear War
A new one-sentence open letter signed by Sam Altman, Demis Hassabis, and Geoffrey Hinton declares that mitigating the risk of extinction from AI is a global priority on par with nuclear war and pandemics.
A new one-sentence open letter from the Center for AI Safety warns that mitigating the risk of extinction from artificial intelligence is a global priority alongside pandemics and nuclear war. Unlike the previous letter that called for a six-month development pause, this brief statement attracts top industry figures who previously held back, including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis.
The statement intentionally lacks specific policy prescriptions and technical details to prevent signatories from disagreeing over small nuances. Center for AI Safety director Dan Hendrycks explains that longer statements often cause the core message to get lost, and he hopes this concise approach inspires further thought on risk reduction policies.
Notable signatories extend beyond the tech industry to include Harvard law professor Laurence Tribe, former Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid, and environmentalist Bill McKibben. McKibben states that after watching the world ignore climate warnings for 35 years, he hopes society actually addresses this massive challenge in a timely fashion.