Two former AI researchers on potential threat from AI

CBS News reporter Jo Ling Kent spoke with Jacob Coxon, the former Anthopic researcher who said AI could "kill us all," and Alex Turner, a former Google DeepMind researcher, who also sounded the alarm.

LOS ANGELES (CBS, KYMA) - This week, the world heard dire warnings about the potential threat from artificial intelligence (AI).

Now, Anthropic said it has blocked several attempts to use the company's technology to possibly develop biological weapons.

After more than two years of trying to make AI at Google safe, Alex Turner, former Google DeepMind researcher, decided he was done.

"Our ability to understand what these models are doing, is going down. And it's going down very quickly," Turner explained.

Turner resigned earlier this summer, warning the technology is growing far faster than the guardrails.

"The companies are racing forwards, convincing themselves, they're trying to convince others that this is the only way to do it, and I think we're just not at all prepared," Turner shared.

This week, former Anthropic employee Jacob Coxon resigned as well, accusing top American AI companies of "gambling with our lives."

When asked how exactly does he think AI will actually carry out the action of destroying all of humanity, Coxon said, "Honestly, when I talk to my friends and family about this, it doesn't look that different from say, Terminator or from science fiction films."

On Thursday, Anthropic revealed it stopped human misuses of its AI models, including research that could have developed biological weapons.

"We can get to a point where effectively we don't have control over the future. Like with people slowly losing understanding of how everything works, or it can be fast with an AI deploying a bio weapon, deploying drones, or fast propaganda campaigns," Turner spoke.

In a statement, Anthropic said in part, "We have always been transparent that AI will bring both enormous benefits and unprecedented risks."

They added, "We continue to build models with some of the strongest safeguards in the industry."

"What matters is, whether we have the regulation for to ensure that everyone is building it safely, you can't protect yourself from this, it has to be a government or some body has to protect you," Coxon expressed.