Ep. 62: Is AI Going to Kill Us All?

Prompting Curiosity

Ep. 62: Is AI Going to Kill Us All?

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Is AI actually going to kill us all?There’s been a ton of talk about this topic in the media lately, and so I’m dedicating an episode to sharing my thoughts. Spoiler alert, no, I don’t think that AI is going to kill us, but that doesn’t mean that this technology has no risk. I walk through the Jacob Coxon resignation thread and the fact that Anthropic’s own alignment team admits there’s genuine risk, then get into why the doom talk feels more irresponsible than credible. I don’t think regulation is coming to save us anytime soon, but to me, the answer isn’t fear, it’s curiosity.

Main Topics Covered

• Directly answering the question: Will AI kill us all?
• Jacob Coxon’s resignation thread on X
• Evan Hubinger’s tweets on AI risk
• Defining superintelligence and recursive self-improvement (RSI)
• Moving the goalposts from AGI to superintelligence
• AI’s coding and hacking capabilities
• Jake Handy’s prediction about a coming AI crisis
• Why the AI-doom talk feels irresponsible
• Regulation and data centers as oil
• Dario Amodei’s blog post
• Change doesn’t happen in a vacuum
• How I used AI this week: Replacing my Jeep’s thermostat housing

Links & Resources for This Episode

• Read Jacob Coxon’s resignation thread on X
• Listen to Ed Zitron’s podcast episode about AI and regulation 
• Read Dario Amodei’s blog post, “We Must Pace the Frontier” 
• Read this episode’s Curious Companion
• Subscribe to the Prompting Curiosity newsletter
• Submit a Question
• Visit the Website
• Feeling curious AND generous? Click here to support the podcast.