Powerful, world-transforming AI could be two years away, and humanity must get through the technology’s “adolescence” unscathed, Anthropic’s CEO argued.
Dario Amodei’s 19,000-word essay warned against both “doomerism” about AI and dismissiveness of its risks, saying that judging by current improvements, soon AI will be “better than humans at essentially everything.”
It is not inevitable that that will lead to disaster, but it is plausible, because AI is unpredictable, he said. That could mean the AI itself seizing power, autocratic states using it for repression, or individuals creating bioweapons.
Democracies, Amodei wrote, must move fast to outpace autocracies yet carefully to avoid catastrophe; China chip export controls, research into safe AI, and regulations on AI transparency will be vital.