Another Google Deepmind researcher quits, says building superintelligent AI soon is "inherently irresponsible"
DeepMind researcher Robert O'Callahan resigns, calling near-term superintelligent AI inherently irresponsible.
Robert O'Callahan, a Google DeepMind technical expert in New Zealand who worked on chip-design tools that made AI cheaper and faster, resigned over AI risk. He says the current pace of change is too high and that aiming for artificial superintelligence soon is inherently irresponsible, citing cognitive harm, loneliness, concentrated power, economic disruption, cybersecurity risk, and weak accountability. He links to Eliezer Yudkowsky and Nate Soares’s “If Anyone Builds It” without endorsing its claim that superintelligence inevitably causes catastrophe. The piece also notes an Axios report on a White House memo criticizing effective altruism and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei.
- Robert O'Callahan left Google DeepMind over AI risk.
- He says near-term artificial superintelligence is inherently irresponsible.
- He cites psychosis, loneliness, power concentration, and cyber risk.
- He references Yudkowsky and Soares without endorsing their catastrophe claim.
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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."
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