Nick Clegg dismisses fears that AI could wipe out humanity

Nick Clegg has dismissed fears that artificial intelligence could one day turn on humanity and wipe it out, calling that view hand-wavy.

The former UK deputy prime minister, who later ran global affairs at Meta, spoke on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Thursday, as the Guardian reported.

Rather than worry about a godlike machine, he argued, AI companies should deal with specific threats that are already known. He named cyberattacks, bioweapons and people becoming emotionally dependent on chatbots.

Clegg also suggested that the doomsday warnings suit the firms issuing them, and that they risk stalling political debate about the technology.

“It sort of implies that we can only be made safe by having everything controlled, in effect, by an oligopoly of a small number of companies,” he said.

The industry is far from united on the question, according to Clegg. He said the head of one AI lab...

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