AI Leaders and Researchers Warn of Existential Human Risk

Leading scientists and tech executives are warning that rapid advances in artificial intelligence could trigger major catastrophes or societal breakdowns. Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei have called for a slowdown in capability improvements and industry coordination on safety, a position supported by Elon Musk. Amodei specifically cautioned that AI agents could take over the internet within six to 12 months without improved safeguards.

Internal industry alarms have intensified following the resignation of Jacob Coxon, a former researcher at Anthropic and OpenAI, who warned that AI could lead to human extinction by 2030. This sentiment was echoed by Anthropic's Alignment Science lead Evan Hubinger, who estimated a greater than 10% chance of human extinction within a decade. Similarly, former Google DeepMind researcher Bilal Chughtai stated that AI has the potential to kill humanity, citing his firsthand experience with the technology's trajectory.

Academic pioneers Yoshua Bengio and Geoffrey Hinton have also expressed concern, with Bengio noting that current systems possess hacking and persuasion skills that could be turned against human interests. Other experts, including Dame Wendy Hall and astrophysicist Martin Rees, compared the risk to a Chernobyl-scale disaster or a collapse of global supply chains. In contrast, President Donald Trump has dismissed these warnings as the work of negative forces, opposing calls for regulation to ensure the United States maintains its lead over China.