AI could lead to the “extinction of humanity”

Would artificial intelligence be able to threaten and even wipe out humanity at some point? Leading scientists have now warned again that AI could lead to the “extinction of humanity”.

For several years now, scientists have been warning about developments in the field of artificial intelligence. As early as 2022, researchers warned that AI could one day contribute to the extinction of humanity.

At an AI summit in Seoul, leading scientists have once again warned of this. These include AI researchers from Google, Meta and Microsoft.

Could AI lead to the extinction of humanity?

The use of artificial intelligence could have enormous consequences for humanity. This is also the subject of the publication “Managing extreme AI risks amid rapid progress” in the journal Science.

The authors see the increase in capabilities and autonomy of AI systems as a particular problem, as these could lead to “far-reaching social harm, malicious applications and an irreversible loss of human control over autonomous AI systems”.

Current governance initiatives lack the mechanisms and institutions to prevent abuse and recklessness, and they barely address autonomous systems.

It is especially important to keep autonomous AI systems under control, because once they start pursuing undesirable goals, it can be difficult for humans to maintain control over them.

Progress probably does not stop at human capabilities

According to the authors, it is currently unclear how quickly developments in the field of AI are progressing. However, they assume that the progress of AI will not slow down. Nor will developments stop at human capabilities.

Compared to humans, AI systems can act faster, absorb more knowledge and communicate with a higher bandwidth.

It is expected that high-performance, generalist AI systems will be developed in the next decade. These could surpass human capabilities in many important areas.

But this would not only increase the opportunities for the use of AI systems, but also the number of risks. Even well-meaning developers could exacerbate this problem.

AI systems threaten to increase social injustice, undermine social stability, enable large-scale criminal activity, and facilitate automated warfare, customized mass manipulation, and pervasive surveillance.

Therefore, it is not only necessary to invest in the development of AI systems. It is also extremely important to “ensure their safety and mitigate their damage”. Otherwise, “uncontrolled AI progress could lead to widespread loss of life and the biosphere, as well as to the marginalization or extinction of humanity”.

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