Another Google Deepmind researcher quits, says building superintelligent AI soon is "inherently irresponsible"

It's barely news at this point, but another Google researcher has quit over AI risks. Robert O'Callahan, a technical expert at Google DeepMind in New Zealand, says AI's "current rate of change is far too high." He worked on chip design tools that helped make AI cheaper and faster, a contribution he says he can no longer justify.

O'Callahan calls the risk from superintelligent AI "real but uncertain" and says "aiming for ASI in the near future is inherently irresponsible." He also warns of cognitive surrender, AI-induced psychosis and loneliness, concentrated power, economic disruption, cybersecurity risks, and lack of accountability. He'd bet AI's harms outweigh its benefits. Many DeepMind colleagues share his concerns but rarely speak publicly, he says. He now wants to do "unambiguously pro-human" work.

He links to "If Anyone Builds It" by Eliezer Yudkowsky and Nate Soares without endorsing its claim that superintelligent AI inevitably brings catastrophe. The authors are tied to effective altruism, a controversial movement criticized for favoring charity over redistribution. Axios says a White House memo casts the movement as a cult-like fringe group and attacks Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei as the face of AI "doomerism."

AI News Without the Hype – Curated by Humans

Subscribe now