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Will AI really kill everyone? How, exactly?
Critics say extinction scenarios rely on speculation, while researchers argue nuclear sites, labs and weapons systems pose major technical barriers.
Last week, Anthropic employee Jacob Coxon quit, citing dangerous work, prompting alarm among politicians and news organizations. Colleague Evan Hubinger estimated the chance of AI-powered human extinction within 10 years at greater than 10%.
Speculation among doomsayers includes AI-driven bioweapons or robot armies. Researcher Thomas Larsen detailed potential doomsday scenarios in reports titled "AI 2027" and "AI 2040," projecting different developmental and regulatory frameworks.
Nate Soares, president of the Machine Intelligence Research Institute, insists it is "literally everyone on the planet dying." However, Cheng Xin argues that appealing to superintelligence is "handwaving" without measurable physical evidence.
Heidy Khlaaf, chief AI scientist at the AI Now Institute, said "Scientific claims require falsifiability precisely to avoid the nature of religious arguments." She noted nuclear facilities are "air-gapped" from the internet, limiting AI access.
Herbert Lin of Stanford University noted that while AI amplifies some risks, the actual material threat remains with nuclear weapons, which have existed for more than 80 years and are generally understood capable of killing all human life.