Not all AI workers think the tech could kill everyone

Not all employees of major firms working on artificial intelligence (AI) think the technology spells doom for humanity.

In text exchanges and conversations, multiple people who have worked for companies including OpenAI, Meta and DeepMind were sceptical of the idea that unchecked AI development would lead to tools that could kill people en masse.

“Lol”, “Haaaaaa” and “Bringing the luls” were among the reactions the BBC received to a recent flurry of high-profile warnings by some people in the industry.

While these fears go back decades, claims made last week by Jacob Coxon, a former Anthropic employee, went viral and were echoed by others in the sector who urged a slowdown in development.

The idea that a future AI tool or agent, an AI bot that is programmed to operate somewhat autonomously, could endanger people has been supported online by employees of Anthropic, as well as OpenAI, Deepmind and Elon Musk, who has an AI startup called xAI.

All of the workers who spoke with the BBC did so on condition of anonymity as they were not permitted to speak to the press. Their identities are known to the BBC.

“My first thought was, ‘That guy?'” said a former OpenAI employee who knew of Coxon when they both worked at the company.

The person, who now works at another AI company, said their amusement at the new moment of existential AI fears largely stemmed from how little detail had been provided by its proponents to defend the notion that all of human life was at stake.

The claims are “always vague”, the person said, adding that when they sound specific, they tend toward major jumps in reasoning or hypothetical circumstances.

Coxon has said a group of AI agents, based on AI models that do not currently exist, could decide to create and then aim a biological weapon, but he did not detail how exactly that would take place.