A.I.'S Prophet of Doom Wants to Shut It All Down (www.nytimes.com)

Eliezer Yudkowsky, founder of the Machine Intelligence Research Institute (MIRI), has long warned that the development of advanced artificial intelligence poses an existential risk to humanity. His new book, co-authored with MIRI president Nate Soares, delivers a stark and urgent message: if anyone creates a superintelligent AI using current approaches or understanding, it will inevitably lead to global catastrophe. This view frames AI development not just as a technical challenge but as a profound threat demanding immediate cessation. For the AI/ML community, Yudkowsky’s warnings underscore ethical and safety concerns that go beyond incremental progress or narrow applications. MIRI’s position emphasizes that present-day machine learning techniques, when scaled or combined into superintelligence, lack the necessary safeguards to prevent disastrous outcomes. This challenges researchers and companies to rethink the trajectory of AI development and consider whether halting or radically altering the course is the responsible path forward. The discussion invigorates debates on AI alignment, control, and governance at a time when powerful models continue to advance rapidly.