Anthropic Co-Founder Urges Mandatory, Verifiable AI Kill Switch as Experts Warn of 10% Extinction Risk
Updated
Updated · bbc.co.uk · Sep 14
Anthropic Co-Founder Urges Mandatory, Verifiable AI Kill Switch as Experts Warn of 10% Extinction Risk
3 articles · Updated · bbc.co.uk · Sep 14
Summary
Jack Clark said companies may need to be required to build AI kill switches that can fully shut systems down and be verified by an independent third party.
Clark argued AI is growing "more powerful by the day" and said leaving the industry totally unregulated means "rolling dice with immense risks," though he declined to assign a percentage to human-extinction odds.
Anthropic is already central to the safety debate after a departing researcher warned AI could wipe out humanity and staff scientist Evan Hubinger put the extinction risk at above 10% within a decade.
That debate has widened beyond Anthropic: Geoffrey Hinton called a 10% extinction risk "not unreasonable," US lawmakers proposed a Kill Switch Act, while the UK government rejected the idea and Donald Trump dismissed AI-doom fears as a hoax.