AI Safety Warnings Grow as Experts Call for Slower Development and Stronger Regulation

Warnings about the potential risks of artificial intelligence have intensified in recent weeks. Current and former AI researchers have argued that rapidly advancing technology could endanger humanity, with some suggesting there may be a 10% or greater chance of AI “killing the entire human race.”

AI Companies Race Toward Superintelligence

Major AI companies are competing to build increasingly powerful systems, including what they describe as superintelligence—theoretical technologies that would be smarter than humans.

AI companies Anthropic, OpenAI and Google, the technology firms behind Claude, ChatGPT and Gemini, respectively, have also disclosed security breaches and incidents in which their chatbots were used for “malicious activities.”

Calls for a Slowdown and Independent Oversight

Dario Amodei, Rector of Humanity, recently called for a slowdown in AI development. His recommendations included an industry-wide pause, stronger regulation and independent oversight of AI model development.

OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman and xAI founder Elon Musk both said they agreed with his recommendations.

Anthropic co-founder Jack Clarke told the BBC that the industry may need to require a “kill switch” that can be checked by a third party.

Lawmakers Debate How to Regulate Artificial Intelligence

The warnings have prompted U.S. lawmakers to propose legislation addressing the technology. However, Altman recently suggested that the U.S. government is struggling to keep pace with AI and determine how it should be regulated. He said people should trust AI companies more to keep them safe.

“The world should trust that we will do the right thing, because it is the right thing to do and we are realizing the magnitude of this,” Altman said at a conference in San Francisco earlier this week.

UK Lawmakers Warn of Human Rights Risks

In the UK, MPs from across party lines have identified human rights risks linked to artificial intelligence. They argued that existing laws are not equipped to deal with the technology’s rapid growth.

The Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR) has published a report calling for new AI legislation to “address the scale and severity” of these threats.