AI and nuclear war threaten human extinction by 2100, report warns
The commission says 17 interconnected threats could cost billions of healthy years, and that targeted action can still reduce the worst-case risks.
- A Lancet commission of 35 leaders identified 17 interconnected catastrophic threats to global health, warning these dangers could collectively account for tens of billions of years of lost health through the 21st century.
- Nuclear conflict and the malicious use of artificial intelligence pose extinction-level risks, the commission found. AI impact estimates remain theoretical because "no malicious AI event of a truly global magnitude" has occurred, though industry experts warned such technology could kill humanity.
- Malicious AI could cause about 10.4 billion healthy years of life lost globally by 2100, while nuclear conflict could wipe out 9.35 billion DALYs. Income inequality could impose a burden equivalent to 25 COVID-19 pandemics, researchers fear.
- Global threats risk amplifying existing inequalities, with the greatest burden falling on vulnerable communities, Commission Co-Chair Dr. Natalia Kanem said. She noted that recent global shocks show how quickly stability can give way to crisis.
- Humanity still has the agency to act, said Dr. Christopher Murray, co-chair of the new commission. Murray warned that delaying action will only serve to shift and increase costs into the future, urging immediate world leader intervention.
75 Articles
75 Articles
The Independent
AI and nuclear war threaten human extinction by 2100, report warns
Action to prevent nuclear conflict could avert an estimated 133 million deaths, says new report
In a new report published in the scientific journal The Lancet, a global commission points out 17 "catastrophic" threats to health, including two with the potential to lead humans to extinction. To reach this conclusion, the 37 members of the commission have examined in detail what the problems are, what severity they can achieve and how we can confront them in the rest of this century. "The striking finding is not only the size of these threats…
Malicious use of Artificial Intelligence and nuclear conflict pose the greatest threat to the extinction of humanity by 2100, global experts have warned. A new report, published in The Lancet, identifies 17 interconnected "catastrophic threats" that include disease, social and economic conditions, environmental change, technology and conflict. In addition to the two potential extinction threats, 15 other catastrophic risks to human health are id…
“The fundamental thing is that the 17 threats are interconnected; therefore, they must be addressed jointly, not in isolation,” says the study published this week.
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