Former Google DeepMind researcher warns of AI extinction risk
Former Google DeepMind researcher Bilal Chughtai warns AI could threaten humanity and urges companies to coordinate on safer development.
A former Google DeepMind researcher warned on Monday (September 14) that artificial intelligence (AI) could potentially “kill all humans”, saying the world may be running out of time to prevent such an outcome.
Bilal Chughtai, a former research engineer who worked on AI safety and alignment, or ensuring that AI systems operate in line with human goals, expressed his concerns in a post on X.
He said he genuinely believed AI had the potential to destroy humanity and feared that the opportunity to avert such an outcome could be closing.
Chughtai co-authored several research papers during his time at Google DeepMind and left the company in July 2026, according to his LinkedIn profile. Google did not respond to a request for comment outside regular business hours, Reuters reported.
Other researchers voice similar concerns
Chughtai’s warning adds to concerns within the AI industry after Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon announced his resignation the previous week.
Coxon said he had left partly because some people developing AI genuinely believed the technology could cause the deaths of all humans by the end of the decade.
Anthropic scientist Evan Hubinger subsequently supported Coxon’s comments, saying his personal assessment put the probability of AI wiping out humanity within the next 10 years at more than 10%.
Calls for a coordinated slowdown
Chughtai said developing AI safely remained possible, but would require cooperation between companies and other stakeholders to avoid what he described as a “manic race” among AI businesses.
He called for development to proceed at a pace society could manage, allowing emerging risks to be addressed before they caused severe harm.
His comments followed a call over the weekend by Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei for companies to slow the development of advanced AI amid growing concerns about the technology’s risks.
Amodei’s proposal received unusual support from SpaceXAI’s Elon Musk and OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman.
The exchanges have intensified debate over “AI doomerism”, a term describing views that emphasise the technology’s potential for catastrophic harm, including threats to humanity’s continued existence.
US President Donald Trump, however, has dismissed the warnings, describing the AI industry’s calls for regulation as a “hoax” in a social media post.
Source: Reuters
