U.S. Senator Ted Cruz has said billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk previously estimated that artificial intelligence had a 10 to 20 per cent chance of ultimately destroying humanity.
The Texas Republican made the revelation during an appearance on The View on Wednesday, recalling a conversation with Musk earlier in the year.
According to Cruz, Musk put the probability of AI wiping out humanity at between 10 per cent and 20 per cent.
Cruz said he reacted to the assessment by exclaiming, “Holy crap!!!”
The senator was referring to a conversation with Musk during an episode of The Verdict with Ted Cruz podcast in January, when the Tesla and SpaceX chief executive reportedly said a catastrophic AI scenario could occur within the next five to 10 years.
Cruz revisited the warning following recent comments by former Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon, whose assessment of the AI industry he described as “highly disturbing.”
Coxon, who recently left Anthropic, told The Wall Street Journal that some people involved in developing advanced AI systems “earnestly believe it could kill us all by the end of the decade.”
Following publication of his comments, Coxon further explained his concerns on social media, accusing AI industry leaders of moving too quickly towards increasingly powerful systems.
“They are racing straight to self-improving superintelligence and gambling with our lives,” Coxon wrote.
The assessments by Musk and Coxon represent their views on potential future AI risks and should not be regarded as established predictions of what will ultimately happen as the technology develops.
