'AI can pose risk of extinction as great as pandemic or nuclear war': Top experts issue a 22-word warning

Top AI researchers, CEO, including ChatGPT maker Sam Altman have issued a fresh warning stating that Artificial Intelligence (AI) can post risk of extinction that can be as great as pandemic or nuclear war. This 22-word statement published on the webpage of the Centre for AI Safety has been signed by 350 top tech luminaries.

This warning aims to “overcome this obstacle and open up discussion". The statement reads: "Mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war."

The signatories of the statement include OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Demis Hassabis chief executive of Google DeepMind, Dario Amodei of Anthropic, the ‘Godfather of AI’ Geoffrey Hinton and more. Hinton had earlier warned that these AI threats could be more urgent than climate change. Google AI officials Lila Ibrahim and Marian Rogers; and Angela Kane, the former United Nations high representative for disarmament affairs are also among the leaders who are supporting this statement. In addition to this, top officials from Skype and Quora also signed the statement.

Top tech leaders worried about AI threats

This comes after thousands of top tech leaders, including Elon Musk, Apple Co-founder Steve Wozniak called for an urgent 6-month halt on training of AI generative systems that can outperform OpenAI’s GPT-4. 

This letter also asked everyone to ponder “if we should "develop non-human minds that might eventually outnumber, outsmart, obsolete and replace us".

In addition to this, several tech leaders are worried about the potential threat AI can pose in the future. Billionaire investor Warren Buffett recently compared artificial intelligence to the creation of the atom bomb. He said: “It can do all kinds of things. And when something can do all kinds of things, I get a little bit worried. We did invent for very, very good reason, the atom bomb."

Microsoft’s Chief Economist Michael Schwarz recently warned against the risk of “bad actors” using AI that can cause “real damage”.  Schwarz said, "I’m quite confident that, yes, AI will be used by bad actors. And yes, it will cause real damage." He added, “We have to be very careful and very vigilant to avoid that by all means possible."

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