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[ARTICLE · art-131357] src=machinebrief.com ↗ pub= topic=ai-safety verified=true sentiment=↓ negative

Nearly one in five AI researchers already expected an extinction scenario from AI back in 2024

A survey of more than 1,500 leading AI researchers put the average estimated probability of an AI extinction scenario at 18 percent in 2024, according to The Decoder. The debate drew comments from Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon, OpenAI researcher Daniel Selsam, who warned of a "ticking time bomb," and a former DeepMind researcher who said AI could kill us all. The Decoder reported the number keeps climbing.

by read1 min views2 publishedSep 16, 2026
Nearly one in five AI researchers already expected an extinction scenario from AI back in 2024
Image: Machinebrief (auto-discovered)

The Decoder Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon sparked an intense debate about existential AI risks with a single tweet. OpenAI researcher Daniel Selsam warns of a "ticking time bomb," and a former Deepmind researcher says AI could kill us all. In a survey of more than 1,500 leading AI researchers, the average estimated probability of an extinction scenario was 18 percent. That was in 2024. The number keeps climbing.

The article Nearly one in five AI researchers already expected an extinction scenario from AI back in 2024 appeared first on The Decoder.

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Key Terms Explained #

Anthropic An AI safety company founded in 2021 by former OpenAI researchers, including Dario and Daniela Amodei.

Decoder The part of a neural network that generates output from an internal representation.

DeepMind A leading AI research lab, now part of Google.

OpenAI The AI company behind ChatGPT, GPT-4, DALL-E, and Whisper.

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