Google DeepMind staffer says AI may ‘kill us all’ in exit post

[TAIPEI] An artificial intelligence researcher who recently resigned from Google DeepMind warned that humanity is running out of time to prevent AI from causing widespread harm, the latest staffer to voice concerns about the direction of the technology.

“At Google, I witnessed AI development first hand. I too am extremely concerned by the default trajectory of this technology,” Bilal Chughtai wrote on Monday (Sep 14) on both X and LinkedIn.

He added that he worked on AI safety and alignment while at the Alphabet company, which is the main AI research body of Google.

“I earnestly believe that AI has the potential to kill us all.”

Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Bilal is the latest AI researcher to voice grave concerns in recent days about the new technology’s evolving but misaligned capabilities that could eventually destroy humankind.

Earlier in September, Jacob Coxon, a rank-and-file AI developer, quit his job and accused both his former employers – Anthropic and OpenAI – of “gambling with our lives” by “racing toward super-intelligent AI”.

Coxon said in a social media post that the people building AI believe it could “kill us all by the end of the decade”. The comments went viral, attracting more than 150 million views and attention from prominent lawmakers and public figures. 

Over the weekend, Anthropic chief executive officer Dario Amodei published a 3,800-word essay urging the AI community to slow the development of the most advanced systems in order to prevent them slipping beyond human control and inflicting catastrophic harm.

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In a rare show of unity, Amodei’s missive was endorsed by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and SpaceXAI chief Elon Musk.

But Chughtai said he is optimistic that it is still possible to navigate AI safely, and his next role will be focused on that.

His LinkedIn profile says he is now working for BlueDot Impact, a non-profit training people in different fields on AI safety. BLOOMBERG