AI staff 'genuinely frightened' for humanity's future, ex-Anthropic researcher tells BBC

Figure caption, 'There is a possibility of human extinction,' former Anthropic employee says about AIByBrandon Livesay and Mitchell Labiak, business reporterAn artificial intelligence researcher who quit AI firm Anthropic has said people working on the technology were "genuinely frightened" about the speed of its advancements and what it could mean for humanity."I believe that if we don't slow down at the current rate of progress, there is a strong chance that we could all die in the immediate future," he said.Jacob Coxon was speaking to the BBC after his resignation post on the dangers of AI went viral on a backdrop of growing safety concerns about the industry. The 27-year-old's former boss, Anthropic head Dario Amodei, recently called for AI development to slow down - though some have questioned the motivations behind this.The bosses of two rival AI firms, Sam Altman of OpenAI and Elon Musk of xAI, have both said they agree with Amodei's proposal for industry-wide deceleration and regulation, as well as independent monitoring of AI model development.Amodei wrote in an essay on Saturday that developing the technology was not in question, but the risks associated with it were "ser...