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The New Stack·Sep 9·5 min read
“It could kill us all”: what Anthropic’s own researchers really think about superintelligence
TL;DR
Anthropic researchers express deep concerns about the risks of superintelligence, with one resigning over fears that it could pose existential threats. They warn that the alignment problem remains unresolved as AI development accelerates.
✦ Why It Matters
Evaluate your AI projects for alignment with ethical safety standards to mitigate risks.
Key Takeaways
- Assess the alignment techniques used in your AI projects.
- Consider the implications of self-improving AI systems.
- Stay informed about industry safety standards and practices.
- Engage in discussions about responsible AI development within your organization.
Full Summary
Jacob Coxon, a pretraining researcher at Anthropic, resigned, citing the unresolved technical challenges of aligning superintelligence with human values. His concerns were echoed by Evan Hubinger, Anthropic's Alignment Science Lead, who estimated a greater than 10% chance that AI could pose an existential threat within the next decade.
Current AI models are deemed low risk, but as they begin to self-improve, the alignment problem becomes more pressing. Samuel Marks, leading scalable oversight research, emphasized that existing alignment techniques can only slightly influence behavior without guaranteeing safety.
The rapid advancement of AI, with models like Claude writing over 80% of code in Anthropic's codebase, exacerbates these concerns. Both Anthropic and OpenAI acknowledge the widening gap between AI capabilities and the ability to verify their safety, prompting calls for a slowdown in development until better safety standards are established.