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Smarter Species Have Wiped Out Others
Max Tegmark, an MIT physicist and AI researcher, has issued a stark warning about humanity’s future. He points out that, across history, more intelligent species have driven others to extinction. For example, humans drove the dodo — a flightless bird — to extinction.
If — or rather, when — AI surpasses human intelligence, Tegmark warns, humanity could face a similar fate. We might not even notice when it happens, since less intelligent species typically can’t predict such shifts.
In an interview with Swedish broadcaster SVT, Tegmark said, “About half of all species on Earth have already been wiped out by us, humans. Because we were smarter, they had no control over this.” He warns the same could happen to us if we hand control of society over to machines.
Recently Tegmark put it bluntly in a one-sentence public statement: “Reducing the risk of extinction from AI must be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks, such as pandemics and nuclear war.” That sounds serious.
Future Technologies or Humanity’s Death Sentence?
Some top scientists warn that AI could soon be used to build autonomous weapons or robots capable of killing — with or without human intervention. That sounds fantastical, at least for now. But it’s not the only danger. Even AI software can become deadly if it’s designed or deployed poorly.
Five years ago Tegmark warned humans could become hostages to the intelligent machines we create. Some colleagues saw that prospect more positively, viewing AI as a product of natural evolution — essentially our descendants.
Others argue “superintelligence” could be controlled, like a domesticated animal such as a pet dog. Tegmark disagrees: humanity may not be smart enough to tame such a machine or manage its power. He warns AI could outmaneuver us. “They could break free and take us over,” he said.
Elon Musk’s Take
Elon Musk is one of the most prominent figures in modern tech — Tesla, SpaceX, Neuralink. When it comes to AI, he’s blunt.
In March, Musk and about 1,000 other tech leaders called for a pause on the “dangerous race” to develop AI, saying it poses a “great risk to society and humanity” and could have “catastrophic” consequences.
Musk began sounding the alarm as early as 2014, saying, “We need to be very careful with AI. It could be more dangerous than nuclear weapons.” A few years later he warned AI is a far greater threat than North Korea.
