Introduction

Many business leaders are seriously concerned that artificial intelligence may pose an existential threat to humanity in the not-too-distant future. In a recent poll, 42% of CEOs at the CEO Summit at Yale University this week said that AI could destroy humanity in 5 to 10 years.

Divided Opinions

“It’s dark and disturbing,” said Yale University professor Jeffrey Sonnenfeld. A survey conducted at a virtual event hosted by the Executive Leadership Institute found no consensus on the risks and opportunities associated with AI.

The survey included responses from 119 executives from various companies, including Walmart CEO Doug McMillion, Coca-Cola CEO James Quincey, executives from IT companies such as Xerox and Zoom, and executives from pharmaceutical, media and manufacturing companies.

The Possibility of Human Extinction

And while business leaders are sharply divided on how dangerous AI is to civilization, 34% of executives said that AI could destroy humanity within ten years, 8% said it could happen within five years, and 58% leaders confirmed this. that this will never happen and they “don’t worry”.

In a separate question, the survey found that 42% of executives surveyed say the potential disaster of AI is exaggerated, while 58% say it is not.

Industry Transformation and Rewards

According to CNN, CEOs indicated that AI will have the biggest impact on transformation in three major industries, with 48% of respondents seeing healthcare as the first sector, while 35% of CEOs see the service sector. information technology is in second place, and 11% of them named the third sector as digital media.

And as some in the tech world and beyond discuss AI doomsday scenarios, there are likely to be more immediate repercussions, including risks of misinformation and job losses.

The Call for Action

The findings come just weeks after dozens of AI industry leaders, scientists and even some celebrities signed a statement warning of the risk of AI “disappearing”. The statement, signed by OpenEL CEO Sam Altman, artificial intelligence godfather Geoffrey Hinton, and top executives at Google and Microsoft, calls on the public to take action to protect against the dangers of artificial intelligence.

“Reducing the risk of extinction due to AI must become a global priority along with other social risks such as pandemics and nuclear war,” the statement said.

The Warnings of AI Godfather Geoffrey Hinton

Recently, artificial intelligence godfather Hinton decided to sound the alarm about a technology he helped develop after worrying about how smart it would be. “I’m just a scientist who suddenly realizes that these things are getting smarter than us,” he said. “I want to make it clear and say that we should be seriously concerned about how we do not allow these things to become better than us.” us.”

He explained that if the AI becomes “smarter than us, it will be very good at manipulating”, including “bypassing the limitations that we put on it.”