--- title: "Ex-OpenAI Safety Researcher Says There’s a 20% Chance of AI Apocalypse" description: "AI Me This A one-time OpenAI safety researcher is sounding alarm bells about the prospect that artificial intelligence may, eventually, bring about the end of humanity. \"I think maybe there's something like a 10-20 percent chance of AI takeover, [with] many [or] most humans dead,\" former OpenAI-er Paul Christiano told the \"Bankless\" podcast earlier this […]" date: "2023-05-05" modified: "2023-05-05" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/former-openai-employee-ai-safety" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" - "OpenAI" tags: - "agi" - "ai alignment" - "OpenAI" - "the digest" --- # Ex-OpenAI Safety Researcher Says There’s a 20% Chance of AI Apocalypse ![A one-time OpenAI researcher is sounding alarm bells about the prospect that artificial intelligence may bring about the end of humanity.]() *\Image: Getty / Futurism\* ## AI Me This A one-time OpenAI safety researcher is sounding alarm bells about the decidedly grim-sounding prospect that artificial intelligence may, eventually, bring about the end of humanity. "I think maybe there's something like a 10-20 percent chance of AI takeover, \[with\] many \[or\] most humans dead," former OpenAI-er Paul Christiano told the "[Bankless]()" podcast earlier this week. "I take it quite seriously." When discussing the possibility of AI annihilation, Christiano said that unlike infamous "doomer" [Eliezer Yudkowsky](), who's been shouting from the rooftops about an AI-powered "Terminator" scenario, he thinks that our end by AI will come more gradually. "I tend to imagine something more like a year's transition from AI systems that are a pretty big deal, to kind of accelerating change, followed by further acceleration, et cetera," he told the podcast. ## Bad Wager Once AI passes the human sentience threshold, however, all bets are off. "Overall, maybe you're getting more up to a 50/50 chance of doom shortly after you have AI systems that are human level," Christiano said. The former OpenAI safety team member's new nonprofit, the Alignment Research Center, is based on the concept of AI alignment, which [Christiano broadly defined]() back in 2018 as having machines' motives align with those of humans. While [OpenAI pays lip service to alignment](), claiming that it "aims to make artificial general intelligence (AGI) aligned with human values and follow human intent," just the concept of AGI itself is enough to give researchers like Christiano pause. Rather than AI coming "out of the blue" and killing everyone, Christiano said that "the most likely way we die" entails all the AI deployed in everyday life coalescing to kill us. "If for some reason, God forbid, all these AI systems were trying to kill us, they would definitely kill us," he concluded. All in all, that kind of admission doesn't exactly inspire confidence — but hey, at least [someone's saying it](), right? **More on AI doomsday:** [*IBM Replacing 7,800 Human Jobs With AI, Including Human Resources*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()