American Left Splits Over AI Risk as 2 in 3 Americans Fear Human Extinction
Updated
Updated · WIRED · Sep 18
American Left Splits Over AI Risk as 2 in 3 Americans Fear Human Extinction
3 articles · Updated · WIRED · Sep 18
Summary
A visible rift is opening on the American left over whether AI politics should center on existential risk or present-day harms such as surveillance, labor disruption and data-center expansion.
The split sharpened after ex-Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon warned AI could end humanity and the NYC Democratic Socialists of America answered with a post liked more than 25,000 times calling AI alarmism a distraction from current abuses.
Bernie Sanders has pushed the existential-risk case into mainstream left politics, tying his March data-center moratorium bill to protecting “the future of humanity” and inspiring September 9 statements from six Working Families Party-affiliated candidates.
Critics including Timnit Gebru and Humane Intelligence CEO Rumman Chowdhury argue doomsday rhetoric amplifies OpenAI and Anthropic, helping them attract capital and shape regulation ahead of possible IPOs.
Even with internal disagreement, the fight is shifting toward which rules to prioritize, not whether to regulate at all; a Politico poll released Wednesday found two in three Americans see at least some chance AI could destroy humanity.