Eliezer Yudkowsky writes that advanced AI will kill all sentient life on Earth and must be shut down
From foxnews.com
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An artificial intelligence expert with more than two decades of experience studying AI safety said an open letter calling for six-month moratorium on developing powerful AI systems does not go far enough.
Eliezer Yudkowsky, a decision theorist at the Machine Intelligence Research Institute, wrote in a recent op-ed that the six-month “pause” on developing “AI systems more powerful than GPT-4” called for by Tesla CEO Elon Musk and hundreds of other innovators and experts understates the “seriousness of the situation.” He would go further, implementing a moratorium on new large AI learning models that is “indefinite and worldwide.”
The letter, issued by the Future of Life Institute and signed by more than 1,000 people, including Musk and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, argued that safety protocols need to be developed by independent overseers to guide the future of AI systems.
“Powerful AI systems should be developed only once we are confident that their effects will be positive and their risks will be manageable,” the letter said. Yudkowsky believes this is insufficient.

OpenAI ChatGPT seen on mobile with AI Brain seen on screen, Jan. 22, 2023, in Brussels. (Jonathan Raa/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
“The key issue is not “human-competitive” intelligence (as the open letter puts it); it’s what happens after AI gets to smarter-than-human intelligence,” Yudkowsky wrote for Newsweek.
“Many researchers steeped in these issues, including myself, expect that the most likely result of building a superhumanly smart AI, under anything remotely like the current circumstances, is that literally everyone on Earth will die,” he asserts. “Not as in ‘maybe possibly some remote chance,’ but as in ‘that is the obvious thing that would happen.’”

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman speaks during a keynote address announcing ChatGPT integration for Bing at Microsoft in Redmond, Washington, on Feb. 7, 2023. OpenAI’s new GPT-4 learning model is the most advanced AI system yet developed, capable of generating, editing, and iterating with users on creative and technical writing tasks. (JASON REDMOND/AFP via Getty Images)
For Yudkowsky, the problem is that an AI more intelligent than human beings might disobey its creators and would not care for human life. Do not think “Terminator” — “Visualize an entire alien civilization, thinking at millions of times human speeds, initially confined to computers—in a world of creatures that are, from its perspective, very stupid and very slow,” he writes.
Yudkowsky warns that there is no proposed plan for dealing with a superintelligence that decides the most optimal solution to whatever problem it is tasked with solving is annihilating all life on Earth. He also raises concerns that AI researchers do not actually know if learning models have become “self-aware,” and whether it is ethical to own them if they are.

Tesla, SpaceX and Twitter CEO Elon Musk and more than 1,000 tech leaders and artificial intelligence experts are calling for a temporary pause on the development of AI systems more powerful than OpenAI’s GPT-4, warning of risks to society and civilization. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
Six months is not enough time to come up with a plan, he argues. “It took more than 60 years between when the notion of Artificial Intelligence was first proposed and studied, and for us to reach today’s capabilities. Solving safety of superhuman intelligence—not perfect safety, safety in the sense of ‘not killing literally everyone’—could very reasonably take at least half that long.”
Instead, Yudkowsky proposes international cooperation, even between rivals like the U.S. and China, to shut down development of powerful AI systems. He says this is more important than “preventing a full nuclear exchange,” and that countries should even consider using nuclear weapons “if that’s what it takes to reduce the risk of large AI training runs.”
“Shut it all down,” Yudkowsky writes. “Shut down all the large GPU clusters (the large computer farms where the most powerful AIs are refined). Shut down all the large training runs. Put a ceiling on how much computing power anyone is allowed to use in training an AI system, and move it downward over the coming years to compensate for more efficient training algorithms. No exceptions for governments and militaries.”
Yudkowsky’s drastic warning comes as artificial intelligence software continues to grow in popularity. OpenAI’s ChatGPT is a recently-released artificial intelligence chatbot that has shocked users by being able to compose songs, create content and even write code.
“We’ve got to be careful here,” OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said about his company’s creation earlier this month. “I think people should be happy that we are a little bit scared of this.” source
I think that this ship sailed, as they say. Is a company which is making $billions from AI really going to halt technology? I rather doubt that.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, news like this is more than a bit disconcerting. But we must never forget that Almighty God is Omniscient, Omnipotent and Omnipresent.
HE IS IN CONTROL! Everything that we see happening – He foreknew! Read the Word of God and be comforted by it!
COME LORD JESUS!
You are absolutely right Geri, this is not surprising to God Almighty. Psalm 2 comes to mind once again.
Yudkowsky is sounding the alarm now but decades ago, futurists predicted mankind would come to this point. Musk himself has said over the years that AI terrifies him, yet here we are. Any possibility of putting a throttle on this technology is laughable.
I have a better idea and it comes straight from Jesus Himself. Turn to Him in repentance, make Him your Lord and Savior and live a life of faith and obedience to His commands all for His glory.
Here is a message for Yudlowsky, Musk, Wozniak and the rest: EVERY HUMAN BEING WHO HAS EVER LIVED WILL DIE at least once (except those incredibly privileged few souls who are spared death in the coming Rapture). The first death is nothing, it is the second death they should fear.
I pray these God-gifted, intelligent people will be awakened to the truth of the gospel before it is too late for them. And if they were, and shared the truth of our Lord, it might have a powerful impact on the unredeemed. It would be FAR more important, and eternally more profound, than anything they’ve convinced themselves matters right now.
AMEN my sweet and beautiful sister in Yeshua!! I love you 🙂
I love you too Geri, looking forward to meeting you SOON! XOXO!
Me too! Soon and very soon!!
I don’t see any AI in the judgments of wrath to come but do see animals and demons causing mayhem. But, the potential exists and should wake up those who are asleep in the world. Just as God intervened at Babel and stopped them, He will do the same here and fufill His word. “Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know it is the last hour.”
1 Jn. 2:18
Wow, just can’t believe you mentioned Babel and what God did to stop them ……. I’ve been thinking about that all day. Amazing…..
Because of the verse in which God says, “And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them.” Gen. 11:6b We are nearing that crescendo when we shall hear the trumpet blast and the Lord will shout His command to be gathered with Him. Our blessed hope, to Him be glory and honor and praise!
It was so nice meeting you yesterday, what an awesome fellowship we had in God’s presence my sister.
“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose”
Romans 8:28.
Thank you for all you do for God’s kingdom. I pray God will continue to use us more and more spreading the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ.”Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me”
John 14:6
I love you my sister.
Oh, sis……what a wonderful time we had! I couldn’t stop smiling. God is SO good and faithful. He cares so deeply for His own!! Much love to you, Adenike!!
Brothers and sisters in Christ…….THIS is who I wrote about in “A Blessed Day!”
Geri, you are correct that in this case the ship has sailed. The genie is out of the bottle and even if the push is on to put it back, there’s so much expected profit to be made (politically and/or financially) that someone or some country (here’s looking at you China) will hold out.
But I’m not worried. I know my God, and I know that my God knows me. It’s a little like riding a scary roller coaster for the first time. If you know and trust the One Who is ultimately In Charge and are following His instructions, then you can hang onto the safety bar and enjoy the rest of the ride.
Amen, Eric!! AMEN!