(Nature) – Researchers are increasingly sounding the alarm that artificial intelligence could end humanity. But such doomsday warnings carry their own risks.

Since 2022, there has been a step change in AI capabilities brought about by large language models (LLMs), which power chatbots such as ChatGPT by OpenAI in San Francisco, California. This development has prompted several researchers as well as leading executives at AI companies to warn about the potential for an AI apocalypse. In the past year, the growing ability of models to work on long-term tasks and their capacity to access real-world tools has further focused fears. “I’ve never been a ‘doomer’ myself, but I have gotten quite nervous in recent months,” says Gillian Hadfield, who studies AI governance at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland.

But many researchers are much more concerned about AI causing catastrophes that fall well short of extinction— such as starting a nuclear war. (Read More)