Talk:Existential risk from artificial intelligence

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The empirical argument

I'm pretty busy editing other articles, but to add my own perspective on this topic: I thought all of this was pretty silly up until I started seeing actual empirical demonstrations of misalignment by research teams at Anthropic et al. and ongoing prosaic research convinced me it wasn't all navel-gazing. This article takes a very Bostromian-armchair perspective that was popular around 2014, without addressing what I'd argue has become the strongest argument since then.

"Hey, why'd you come around to the view that human-level AI might want to kill us?"

"Well, what really convinced me is how it keeps saying it wants to kill us."

– Closed Limelike Curves (talk) 22:50, 20 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Makes sense. There is more empirical research being done nowadays, so we could add content on that. Alenoach (talk) 00:44, 21 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Nah. It still is pretty silly. Folks treating this topic seriously have spent a little too long watching Black Mirror and various other lame sci-fi. I'm sorta surprised this entire article hasn't been taken to AfD. How does it avoid WP:CRYSTALBALL's prohibition on speculative future history? NickCT (talk) 18:07, 27 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I think the only sci-fi movie I've ever seen is Star Wars. In any case, it's an appropriate topic because the discussion itself is notable and widely-reported on in reliable sources—other examples of this would be the articles on designer babies and human genetic enhancement. Like the link says:

Predictions, speculation, forecasts and theories stated by reliable, expert sources or recognized entities in a field may be included, though editors should be aware of creating undue bias to any specific point-of-view.

– Closed Limelike Curves (talk) 19:34, 27 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Elon Musk?

"On March 2, 2025, Elon Musk estimated a 20% chance of AI-caused extinction."

Elon Musk is not an AI researcher, philosopher, or other specialist. There is no reason whatsoever for his opinion or estimates to be given credibility.

I don't remove the sentence myself because his persona inspires strong emotions and I don't want to enter a dispute over it, but I defer to some more senior editor who would consider removing it. DigitalDracula (talk) 12:51, 12 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I don't have a strong opinion on the matter, but I would note that Musk co-founded OpenAI. WeyerStudentOfAgrippa (talk) 13:22, 12 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Slight preference toward removing the sentence. A lot of what Musk says is unsubstantiated, especially these days, so it's unclear whether his subjective probability estimates are valuable for readers, and the article already mentions him a number of times. I remove it for now, but if someone insists to add it back (with a better source than H2S Media), I won't oppose it. Alenoach (talk) 22:44, 15 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Additions to "Views on banning and regulation"

I think adding organizations such as StopAI and PauseAI is be a needed addtion to his section 109.247.57.11 (talk) 08:52, 28 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Use of word "doomer"

Doomer is a common word now to describe people who are into this cause, including by the people themselves. Can I add that term, or is it sore subject still? Not logged in 2 (talk) 18:48, 18 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

The term "doomer" is mostly pejorative and isn't precisely defined (at which subjective probability estimate of doom does one start being a "doomer"? 50%? 90%?), so it's likely better to avoid the term when possible. Alenoach (talk) 20:02, 18 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Wiki Education assignment: Introduction to Technical Writing

This article is currently the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 19 August 2025 and 13 December 2025. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Aromer264 (article contribs).

— Assignment last updated by Aromer264 (talk) 02:22, 20 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]