Not all AI workers think the tech could kill everyone

Not all AI workers think the tech could kill everyone In informal discussions, many individuals who have worked for firms such as OpenAI, Meta and DeepMind expressed doubt about the claim that uncontrolled AI advancement will inevitably produce tools capable of wiping out humanity. "Lol", "Haaaaaa" and "Bringing the luls" were among the reactions the BBC received to a recent flurry of high‑profile warnings by extreme figures in the industry. While such concerns have circulated for decades, claims made past week by Jacob Coxon, a former Anthropic employee, went viral and were repeated by others in the community who urged a slowdown in development. The idea that a future AI system or agent—an AI bot programmed to operate somewhat autonomously—could threaten humanity has been echoed online by staff at Anthropic, as well as OpenAI, DeepMind and Elon Musk, who runs the AI startup xAI. All of the workers who spoke with the BBC did so on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the press. Their identities are known to the BBC. "My archetypal thought was, 'That guy?'" said a former OpenAI worker who knew of Coxon when they both worked at the company. The individual, who now works at another AI firm, said their amusement at the current wave of existential AI fears largely stemmed from how little detail had been supplied by its proponents to support the notion that all of human existence is at risk. The claims are "always vague", the person said, adding that when they become specific they tend toward large leaps in reasoning or hypothetical scenarios. Coxon has said a group of AI agents, based on AI models that do not yet exist, could decide to create and then deploy a biological weapon, but he did not specify exactly how that would occur.