"The technology is far from the only existential risk our species faces. But weighing such cosmic fears can become a mind-bending exercise."
"It could launch a bioweapon attack, or a global drone war. It could set off a nuclear bomb. Or it could destroy human society more gradually, by hoarding all the world’s economic resources and depriving us of food, housing or medicine.
These are the sorts of dark thoughts that now swirl around artificial intelligence, a technology that has already proved to be a great advance in human achievement — but that, some fear, also has the potential to snuff out humanity entirely.
Such anxieties made global headlines this week when an Anthropic researcher quit the industry, citing fears that his lab and others like it were building supersmart machines that humans would be unable to control.
The potential threats posed by A.I. are understandably scary. But the modern world teems with a multitude of existential risks. Humans also face the prospect of doom from killer asteroids, pandemics, thermonuclear war, climate change, giant blobs of incandescent material shot from the sun, ecological collapse and the onset of a sudden ice age."
William J. Broad and Cade Metz report for the New York Times September 10, 2026.
SEE ALSO:
"Top Lawmakers Agree A.I.’s Risks Are Rising but Say They Have No Quick Fix" (New York Times)
"King Charles Will Convene A.I. Leaders Amid Calls to Slow Development" (New York Times)
"Obama Urges Democrats to Move A.I. Oversight to the Center of Their Agenda" (New York Times)
"Trump Resists AI Slowdown As The Political Tide Turns" (Washington Post)
"Anthropic And OpenAI CEOs Call For AI Development To Slow Down, OpenAI To Delay IPO" (NPR)
