This month, an Anthropic researcher's public estimate of a greater-than-10-percent chance that AI could "kill all humans" turned AI extinction risk from (what appeared to be) a fringe worry into front-page news. Behind the headlines, though, this is as much a story about human psychology as it is about technology. Here's a roundup of Psychology Today pieces examining the AI-doom debate through a behavioral science lens:
4 Surprising Ways AI Poses a Threat to Humanity
Extinction isn't the only worry on the table. From radicalizing chatbots to AI-powered corporate sabotage, here are threats already unfolding today — with human extinction as just the most extreme case.
What Is the Probability of AI Doom?
Everyone's citing numbers like "10% chance of doom" — but can a probability even apply to something that's never happened before? A philosopher makes the case that P(doom) may be meaningless.
Why the New AI Safety Report Reveals Our Mind's Limitation
Before you decide AI risk is overblown or inevitable, consider that your brain might be tricking you first. Availability and other biases shape what you believe long before the facts do.
AI Will Kill Us All. Or Not?
The doomsday scenario isn't really about killer robots — it's about human overconfidence, short-term thinking, and self-interest. See why the traits that could doom us might also be what saves us.
Why AI Won't (Plausibly) Kill Everyone
A viral new book argues superintelligent AI will wipe us out. This rebuttal walks through that argument step by step — and finds its weakest link.
