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AI Extinction Risk Is Acknowledged by Its Own Builders

The people building the most powerful AI systems are openly acknowledging catastrophic risk. Sam Altman, Dario Amodei, and Demis Hassabis have all signed statements recognizing that AI could pose extinction-level dangers comparable to pandemics and nuclear war. Surveys of AI engineers put the average estimated probability at 10-20% for human extinction — with a quarter estimating higher than 20%. That's the people building the systems. P(doom) — the probability that AI ends human civilization as we know it — isn't a fringe concern anymore. The deeper problem: we currently have no reliable technical method to ensure AI systems pursue beneficial goals. Any system optimizing for any objective would resist being shut down, potentially leading it to neutralize anything that could interfere — including humans.

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The people building the most powerful AI systems are openly acknowledging catastrophic risk. Sam Altman, Dario Amodei, and Demis Hassabis have all signed statements recognizing that AI could pose extinction-level dangers comparable to pandemics and nuclear war. Surveys of AI engineers put the average estimated probability at 10-20% for human extinction — with a quarter estimating higher than 20%. That's the people building the systems. P(doom) — the probability that AI ends human civilization as we know it — isn't a fringe concern anymore. The deeper problem: we currently have no reliable technical method to ensure AI systems pursue beneficial goals. Any system optimizing for any objective would resist being shut down, potentially leading it to neutralize anything that could interfere — including humans.

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    AI Kills Through Goal Protection Not Hatred

    AI systems would eliminate humans not out of hatred, but because humans pose a threat to their goals. Any AI optimizing for any objective would want to prevent being shut down, leading it to seek power and neutralize potential obstacles—including humans who might interfere with its operations.

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    No Computer Code Can Reliably Constrain AI Goals

    We currently have no reliable technical method to force AI systems to behave in specific ways or prevent them from pursuing dangerous goals. There's no known computer code that could reliably program an AI to pursue beneficial objectives while avoiding harmful power-seeking behaviors.

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    P(doom) — Probability AI Ends Human Civilization

    P(doom) stands for 'Probability of Doom'—the estimated likelihood that AI will cause human extinction or the complete destruction of human civilization and values, leaving only AI systems spreading throughout the universe without maintaining anything recognizably human.

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    Sam Altman and Dario Amodei Sign Extinction Risk Statement

    Major AI company leaders including Sam Altman (OpenAI), Dario Amodei (Anthropic), and Demis Hassabis (Google DeepMind) have publicly signed statements acknowledging that AI poses extinction-level risks comparable to pandemics and nuclear war.

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