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In the troubling view of machine learning researcher Nate Soares, AI is more likely than not to wipe out humanity within the next decade.<\/p>\n
At least, that\u2019s what Soares said during a recent episode of the Atlantic\u2019s podcast<\/a> \u201cThe Most Interesting Thing in AI.\u201d During the taping, the AI researcher and president of the Machine Intelligence Research Institute even said that he\u2019s so confident in the coming AI apocalypse that he\u2019s stopped contributing to his retirement account.<\/p>\n \u201cI do not save for retirement right now,\u201d Soares explained during the interview. \u201cI have a 401(k) from when I worked at Google, but I haven\u2019t contributed for a decade.\u201d<\/p>\n The AI guru evidently pegs the possibility of AI-driven extinction at over 50 percent over the next ten years, a remarkably bold prediction of a future which Soares is evidently working hard to prevent.<\/p>\n \u201cI do everything I can to stop this eventuality,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s inevitable.\u201d<\/p>\n Soares is well-known in the AI research space as a prolific doom-monger \u2014\u00a0a schtick which is starting to play on a loop<\/a>. At MIRI, he operates as Elizier Yudkowsky\u2019s right-hand man, pushing alarmist tales which have secured the pair high-profile media appearances, book deals, and direct access to politicians.<\/p>\n As critics have noted<\/a>, though both Soares and Yudkowsky have spent much time fretting about an AI apocalypse, there\u2019s no consensus that such a future is even possible \u2014 let alone probable.<\/p>\n There are plenty of reasons to be pessimistic about AI. The technology has already been used to bomb elementary school students<\/a>, scam seniors<\/a>, and drive dozens of vulnerable<\/a> users to suicide<\/a>. AI doesn\u2019t need to be superintelligent to do any of that \u2014\u00a0and if we all focus on the harms technology may cause down the road, it becomes easy to overlook the harms it\u2019s causing in the here and now.<\/p>\n As for saving your pennies for your retirement? Well, it\u2019s like some AI doomers say<\/a> \u2014 it\u2019s probably better to play it safe and contribute to your savings, rather than take the chance at being sorry you didn\u2019t. Look at it this way: if AI kills us all, it won\u2019t really matter anyway.<\/p>\n