first time We speak, Jope Mindartzuma is not in a good position. Tearfully recounts a conversation in which she warned her niece about the risks of artificial intelligence causing social collapse. She then had a panic attack. “I cry every other day,” he said via Zoom from his home in the Dutch city of Utrecht. “Every time I say goodbye to my parents and friends, I feel like this might be the last time.”
Meindertzma, 31, who co-owns a database company, has been interested in AI for several years. But when OpenAI released its latest language model, GPT-4, in March, he began to worry in earnest about the threat this technology could pose to humanity. Since then, he has witnessed the phenomenal success of his ChatGPT chatbots (first based on his GPT-3, then his GPT-4) and how AI has progressed and big tech companies has proven to the world that the world is racing to catch up. And he’s seen pioneers like the so-called godfather of AI, Jeffrey Hinton, warn of the dangers associated with the systems they helped create. “AI capabilities are advancing much faster than virtually anyone predicted,” says Meindertzma. “We are in danger of social collapse. We are in danger of extinction.”
A month before our talk, Maindertzma stopped going to work. He was obsessed with the idea of AI destroying human civilization and had trouble thinking of anything else. He felt that he had to do something to avoid calamity. Shortly after, he founded Pause AI, as his name suggests, a grassroots protest group calling for a halt to the development of AI. Since then, he has amassed a small following and has staged protests in Brussels, London, San Francisco and Melbourne. These demos have been small with less than 10 people each time, but Meindertzma continues to make friends in high places. He said he has already been invited to speak to officials from the Dutch parliament and the European Commission.
The idea that AI can destroy humanity sounds extreme. But it’s an idea that’s gaining traction in both the tech field and mainstream politics. Hinton resigned from his job at Google in May and embarked on a global interview, raising fears that humans will lose control of AI as technology advances. In the same month, industry leaders including the CEOs of AI research institutes Google DeepMind, OpenAI, and Anthropic signed a letter acknowledging the “risk of extinction,” and British Prime Minister Rishi Snak became the first head of government to put himself at risk of extinction. publicly admitted that he was on the verge of AI poses an existential threat to humankind.
Meindertzma and his supporters explore how these warnings permeate society, create a new phenomenon of AI anxiety, and teach younger generations (many of whom are already deeply concerned about climate change) about the future. It gives us a glimpse of what gives us new reasons to panic. A poll by YouGov, a polling firm, found that the percentage of people who fear artificial intelligence could bring the end of the world surged last year. Hinton denies wanting to halt AI development temporarily or indefinitely. But his public statements about the risks AI poses to humanity have created a group of young people who feel they have no other choice.
to various people “Existential risk” can mean many different things. “The main scenario that I am personally concerned about is social collapse through large-scale hacking,” Meindertzma said, adding that criminals can “use cheaply available, widely available tools that can be used to effectively destroy humanity.” We are concerned about AI being used to develop cyberweapons.” the entire internet. ” Experts say this scenario is highly unlikely. But Meindertzma remains concerned about the resilience of banks and food distribution services. “People will not be able to find food in cities. People will fight,” he says. “I think billions of people will die.”
