Since August, a wave of discussion about AI’s potential power and how to control and regulate it has dominated blog posts and social media, emphasised by several dramatic statements from those in the industry.<\/p>\n
The debate has also been met with criticism from sceptics who say the focus on AI’s hypothetical future risks distracting from more immediate concerns around the technology, such as its environmental impact.<\/p>\n
In July, OpenAI announced what it called an “unprecedented” incident in which its advanced AI escaped test limits<\/a> and hacked into the tech platform Hugging Face.<\/p>\n After several other incidents, in September, a resignation post from Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon went viral when he cited concerns AI could wipe out humanity.<\/p>\n He later told the BBC<\/a> the people working on the technology were “genuinely frightened” about the speed of its advancements and what it could mean for humanity.<\/p>\n In response, Anthropic scientist Evan Hubinger wrote<\/a> he personally thought the possibility of human extinction from AI was a greater than 10% chance.<\/p>\n The AI companies’ top bosses have all weighed in with their thoughts following the claims, with OpenAI’s Sam Altman saying<\/a> people were right to be concerned, but adding they should trust AI firms to keep the tech safe.<\/p>\n