The office block where AI ‘doomers’ gather to predict the apocalypse

Published 2 hours ago
Source: theguardian.com
The office block where AI ‘doomers’ gather to predict the apocalypse

Safety researchers feel excessive financial rewards and an irresponsible work culture have led some to ignore a catastrophic risk to human life

On the other side of San Francisco bay from Silicon Valley, where the world’s biggest technology companies tear towards superhuman artificial intelligence, looms a tower from which fearful warnings emerge.

At 2150 Shattuck Avenue, in the heart of Berkeley, is the home of a group of modern-day Cassandras who rummage under the hood of cutting-edge AI models and predict what calamities may be unleashed on humanity – from AI dictatorships to robot coups. Here you can hear an AI expert express sympathy with an unnerving idea: San Francisco may be the new Wuhan, the Chinese city where Covid originated and wreaked havoc on the world.

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TechnologyArtificial intelligence (AI)ComputingSam AltmanWorld newsUS newsOpenAI