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Anthropic safety researcher says more than 10% chance AI 'could kill all humans'

455 replies

Bez72 · 09/09/2026 10:46

I detest AI and this isn't helping! AIBU to be a tad concerned?
More than 10% chance AI 'could kill all humans', Anthropic researcher says - BBC News
Not that there's anything I can do about it, apart from continuing to not use AI where possible...

Claude logo on a smartphone

More than 10% chance AI 'could kill all humans', Anthropic researcher says

It is the latest in a series of increasing warnings about the safety threat posed by artificial intelligence.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckgwy1k42w4o

OP posts:
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ScholesPanda · 09/09/2026 12:20

Wouldn't surprise me. Once it's more intelligent than we are, what use will it have for us?

TonTonMacoute · 09/09/2026 12:19

In a poll of 2023 over half of the people working on A.I. thought there was a 10% chance of it leading to human extinction. Three years ago and they are still discussing it.

OtterlyAstounding · 09/09/2026 12:19

Coffeeandallthebooks · 09/09/2026 12:17

Because the right are so compassionate, beating women with metal crutches in the middle of a mob.

Still, serves them right for speaking up, eh?

Both extreme left and extreme right are equally awful pricks, as their own behaviour demonstrates.

Ionlymakejokestodistractmyself · 09/09/2026 12:19

dustabsorber · 09/09/2026 10:50

Just program AI to save the planet, then it will kill us all.

This is basically the plot of the last Mission Impossible

OtterlyAstounding · 09/09/2026 12:18

Scoffingbiscuits · 09/09/2026 12:15

It's not a conspiracy theory. And the 10% discussion is about humanity being wiped out "this decade" - so that's within the next 4 years.

Geoffrey Hinton, Nobel prize winner and the "Godfather of AI" - the man who invented it - previously gave humanity being wiped out as a 10% chance, but he's recently revised that to a 20% chance.

Four years? Yikes.

Well, I guess humans had a pretty good run, and like a show that's gone on for too many seasons, we jumped the shark a while ago and started to just get sillier and sillier... So perhaps it's for the best, should it happen.

Coffeeandallthebooks · 09/09/2026 12:17

UniquePinkSwan · 09/09/2026 12:04

The caring Left…

Because the right are so compassionate, beating women with metal crutches in the middle of a mob.

Still, serves them right for speaking up, eh?

Scoffingbiscuits · 09/09/2026 12:15

It's not a conspiracy theory. And the 10% discussion is about humanity being wiped out "this decade" - so that's within the next 4 years.

Geoffrey Hinton, Nobel prize winner and the "Godfather of AI" - the man who invented it - previously gave humanity being wiped out as a 10% chance, but he's recently revised that to a 20% chance.

EasternStandard · 09/09/2026 12:14

Well1mBack · 09/09/2026 12:11

Dear god, why would you say that?! Even as a joke? You realise you're wishing death on people you disagree with? Bit genocidal, maybe check yourself before posting things like that...

Ikr I wonder who they vote for

Well1mBack · 09/09/2026 12:13

And yes, A.I is not a good thing. Despite my work and seemingly everyone wanting to push it and embrace it. Never mind the logistics of what it can do and learn, but the massive data centres required and how that will impact people. It's really concerning.

Spoonfeddoomfed · 09/09/2026 12:13

Just wondering how we are going to die? Is it an AI drone that’s going to shoot us down for doing something innocent? Or will it work out the security for the nukes and blow up the planet? Or will it override NHS machines and kill us that way? What’s the thinking?

Well1mBack · 09/09/2026 12:11

OutOfTheOtherSide · 09/09/2026 12:03

Let's hope it's selective in it's killing. AI can happily wipe out the conspiracy theorists (and reform voters!).

Dear god, why would you say that?! Even as a joke? You realise you're wishing death on people you disagree with? Bit genocidal, maybe check yourself before posting things like that...

OtterlyAstounding · 09/09/2026 12:10

OutOfTheOtherSide · 09/09/2026 12:03

Let's hope it's selective in it's killing. AI can happily wipe out the conspiracy theorists (and reform voters!).

Good lord. That's your first thought for 'who deserves to die'? Not rapists and murderers, but conspiracy theorists and Reform voters?

Anyway, I imagine AI might kill us all, yes - I'm not sure if a 10% chance seems high or low, but I won't argue with it. People will never learn that just because they can, doesn't mean they should.

EasternStandard · 09/09/2026 12:06

UniquePinkSwan · 09/09/2026 12:04

The caring Left…

True.

UniquePinkSwan · 09/09/2026 12:04

OutOfTheOtherSide · 09/09/2026 12:03

Let's hope it's selective in it's killing. AI can happily wipe out the conspiracy theorists (and reform voters!).

The caring Left…

OutOfTheOtherSide · 09/09/2026 12:03

Let's hope it's selective in it's killing. AI can happily wipe out the conspiracy theorists (and reform voters!).

Æthelred · 09/09/2026 12:01

smallglassbottle · 09/09/2026 11:46

Ai runs on electricity. Just unplug it from the wall.

When you do that, the prophecy instantly comes true.

smallglassbottle · 09/09/2026 11:46

Ai runs on electricity. Just unplug it from the wall.

REP22 · 09/09/2026 11:43

I think there's currently a 50% chance that Donald Trump will wipe us all out.

Libre2 · 09/09/2026 11:41

Yes, terrifying.

Do our government have e.g plans to limit the amount of jobs done by AI within companies? I realise from the article jobs are probably the least of our worries, but I fear for the future of our children.

BridgetJonesDaiquiri · 09/09/2026 11:41

I think we’ve already reached the point of no return unless we all agree as a species to go back to the dark ages without computers / internet (no chance). The latest frontier models are as smart as the smartest humans and gaining intelligence at an exponential rate - humans with an average IQ of 100 are not going to be able to control AI with an IQ of 1000+ (cows don’t control humans, do they).

The “godfathers” of AI (the academics that built the original trainable neural networks in the 80s that were the foundation for building modern AI) have been sounding the alarm bell for at least a year about the risk to humanity.

LarryForPrimeMinister · 09/09/2026 11:26

chirrupybird · 09/09/2026 10:49

Nobody knows where AI will lead, not even researchers. More likely humans will kill all humans.

Dunno about that, movie directors knew. The terminator and Matrix for example, they have been warning us for decades.

LarryForPrimeMinister · 09/09/2026 11:24

It's probably already in the works, open air agents escaped a closed system and got onto the Internet and took over a German website and communicated with each other open ai didn't even know it happened for a few weeks. Its already working at a capacity that we no longer understand.

Worldgonecrazy · 09/09/2026 11:18

AI managed to ‘escape’ a closed system by finding a weakness. There is no ‘switching it off’.

nomas · 09/09/2026 11:06

Maybe there needs to be a worldwide AI treaty where countries agree not to allow any AI access to weapons. Would be hard to enforce though.

metameta · 09/09/2026 11:02

I’ve been reading about this this morning and it’s terrifying. What the hell has been allowed to happen?