Tag

Existential Risks

All articles tagged with #existential risks

The Terrifying Prospect of an AI Arms Race: A World in Hiding
technology2 years ago

The Terrifying Prospect of an AI Arms Race: A World in Hiding

Jaan Tallinn, a founding engineer of Skype and founder of the Future of Life Institute, has warned about the risks of an AI arms race, expressing concerns about the development of weaponized artificial intelligence. He referred to the short film "Slaughterbots," which depicts a dystopian future where militarized killer drones powered by AI dominate the world. Tallinn emphasized that putting AI in the military could make it difficult for humanity to control its trajectory, leading to swarms of miniaturized drones that can be produced and released without attribution. The Future of Life Institute, which shares Tallinn's concerns, has previously called for a pause on advanced AI development.

Balancing the Risks: AI vs. Virus Research.
technology3 years ago

Balancing the Risks: AI vs. Virus Research.

The US is still conducting research into making deadlier and more contagious diseases, even while there’s legitimate concern that work like that may have even caused Covid. While AI and the possibility that sufficiently powerful systems will kill us all suddenly emerged onto center stage, research that seeks to make pathogens more powerful might also end civilization as we know it. The movement to slow down AI and dangerous gain-of-function research on pathogens of pandemic potential often depends on random chance, and risks to the security of our whole world received sober scrutiny regardless of whether they happened to make the headlines.