Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei says AI could pose catastrophic risks, but argues the outcome depends on the industry taking the right path on AI safety.
Could AI threaten the survival of humanity? What Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said (Source: ANI)
Could advanced AI threaten humanity or even end up killing people? Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei acknowledged that the potential for AI to cause catastrophic harm is real, but says the outcome largely depends on the choices the industry makes today.
Can AI kill people? Anthropic CEO Response
In an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper, Amodei said he “agrees more than disagrees.” He partially agreed with this idea, but argued that if the right path is chosen, the likelihood of anything going wrong is very small. The announcement comes after former anthropology researcher Jacob Coxon, who recently quit his job, publicly warned of the risks associated with advanced AI. He sparked debate after he said AI could potentially kill humanity “by the end of the decade.”
Reacting to Coxon’s statements, Amodei said: “I agree with Jacob far more than I disagree with him. It’s an interesting resignation because when he left, he said, “I think Anthropic is the most responsible player. I think Anthropic is more aware of these issues than anyone else.” He didn’t call us. It highlighted the dynamics of the industry as a whole, which was moving too fast.”
Amodei argued that rather than setting a fixed probability, such as a 10% chance that AI will destroy humanity, it is more useful to think about the different ways AI could evolve. He called on AI companies to prioritize safety, work together and ensure increasingly powerful AI remains under responsible human control. However, Amodei also warned that slowing down AI development too much could allow less responsible actors to take control of the technology.
“I used to say that because it’s a pretty simple way of saying it. I think there is some possibility that something will go wrong. But it’s not that big.
“And so instead of saying that a 10% chance sounds like it’s a roll of the dice, I think it’s much clearer to say that it branches into different paths. And if we choose the right path, then the likelihood that something will go wrong is very small. If we choose the wrong path, the likelihood of something going wrong may be even higher. So let’s focus on our free will and our ability to choose the right path rather than the wrong one. And I think the right way is for the industry to work together. It’s harder, but to some extent the world has to work together. If we go too slowly, I still believe the wrong people will be in charge of the technology, and that will again lead to a very high probability of things going wrong,” he said.
Sam Altman and Elon Musk agree that artificial intelligence is slowing down
Amodei’s call was supported by Sam Altman, CEO of tech giant OpenAI. In a post on X, Altman said: “I agree with Dario that we need to move forward. This has been a major topic of discussions we’ve had at OpenAI in recent weeks. The commitment to have independent appraisers with employee-like access is a great idea and we will do the same.”
Tesla CEO Elon Musk also supported Amodei’s proposal, saying: “Dario is right.”
(With inputs from ANI)