One of AI’s Fiercest Critics Says All the Doom Talk Is ‘Meant to Distract Us’
wired ·
AI researcher Timnit Gebru argues that dramatic warnings about AI extinction distract attention from concrete harms caused or enabled by the industry. Her comments follow a dispute over whether OpenAI improperly claimed credit for solving a major math problem and the resignation of an Anthropic researcher who criticized companies’ approach to AI safety. Gebru says companies elevate achievements in math, programming, and chess as evidence of general intelligence, while rushing unverified claims into public policy debates and competing aggressively ahead of possible IPOs. She rejects the idea that the central danger is a model becoming rogue or deciding to destroy humanity, comparing that framing to blaming a collapsing bridge rather than examining who designed and regulated it. In her view, more immediate existential threats include autonomous weapons, climate damage, workplace displacement, and the creation or use of chemical and biological weapons. Gebru also questions the plausibility of popular extinction scenarios, noting that some resemble existing threats such as malware, and says similar claims about artificial intelligence have circulated since the 1940s and 1950s.
wired