Human race could be wiped out with virus more deadly than Covid, professor warns
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A professor has warned the human race could be wiped out by Artificial Intelligence.
Dan Hendryckys, director of the Centre For AI Safety, believe the bots pose a great threat than the likes of Covid.
He has warned AI could take “numerous pathways” to “societal risks”, and they may even begin to kill us if they realise humans can switch them off, the Daily Star reports.
They have even predicted the bots could do this by accessing the ingredients and tools needed to create a genetically engineered “bioweapon” which will be “more devastating than any pandemic” the world has survived.
Mr Hendrycks said: “Alternatively, malicious actors could intentionally release rogue AI that actively attempt to harm humanity.
“If such an AI was intelligent or capable enough, it may pose significant risk to society as a whole.”
One tech industry source says it’s reasonable to believe AI could order the tools needed to create a virus online, engineer it and unleash it on the world.
The Foreign Policy site reported: “It no longer takes a sprawling government lab to engineer a virus.
“Thanks to a technological revolution in genetic engineering, all the tools needed to create a virus have become so cheap, simple, and readily available that any rogue scientist or college-age biohacker can use them, creating an even greater threat.”
Describing bioweapons, the World Health Organisation (WHO) says: “Biological and toxin weapons are either microorganisms like virus, bacteria or fungi, or toxic substances produced by living organisms that are produced and released deliberately to cause disease and death in humans, animals or plants.
“An attack involving a biological agent may mimic a natural event, which may complicate the public health assessment and response.
A professor has warned the human race could be wiped out (
Image: Getty
“In case of war and conflict, high-threat pathogens laboratories can be targeted, which might lead to serious public health consequences.
“Biological weapons form a subset of a larger class of weapons sometimes referred to as unconventional weapons or weapons of mass destruction, which also includes chemical, nuclear and radiological weapons.
“The use of biological agents is a serious concern, and the risk of using these agents in a terrorist attack is thought to be increasing.”
Michael Wooldridge, professor of computer science at Oxford University said it is “easy to imagine” scenarios where AI could use existing human technology to wipe us out.
There are also fears among experts AI could access nukes and climate-change fighting technology to terminate the human population.
There are also fears among experts AI could access nukes and climate-change fighting technology (
Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto)
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