Superintelligence is a Fairy Tale. But Chasing It Can Still Cause Harm.

Yesterday, multiple Anthropic employees casually announced online that they thought the types of AI they’re building could kill billions of people. Not in some distant hypothetical future, but in the next few years. Understandably, this created a tsunami of media attention and anxious discussion. I added to this debate with a ​brief essay​ of my own. I fear, however, that in the Sturm und Drang of that charged news cycle, some of my conclusions might have been hard to follow. So, I thought it would be useful to publish three short follow-up points that summarize my core claims more directly… Point #1: Anthropic and OpenAI are not able to create superintelligent AI. The Anthropic employees who spoke out yesterday believe the force that might wipe out humanity will be “superintelligent” AI systems that are much too capable for us to control. Let me be clear: We have no idea how to create such machines. We don’t even know if they’re possible. And if they are possible, we are many, many…