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Comment and Technology

The real reason claims about the existential risk of AI are scary

Claims that superintelligent AI poses a threat to humanity are frightening, but only because they distract from the real issues today, argues Mhairi Aitken, an ethics fellow at The Alan Turing Institute

By Mhairi Aitken

28 June 2023

91av. Science news and long reads from expert journalists, covering developments in science, technology, health and the environment on the website and the magazine.

Simone Rotella

IN RECENT months, there has been a flood of claims that superintelligent artificial intelligences could one day lead to the destruction of humanity. Sam Altman, CEO of Open AI, has said the technology could lead to ““, while AI pioneer Geoffrey Hinton resigned from Google citing his fear that AI . What’s more, the Center for AI Safety has on the risk of extinction the technology poses.

These claims are scary – but not because they are true. They are scary because they are…

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