The race to develop increasingly advanced AI systems is worrying a significant portion of researchers who have worked on this technology. While Big Tech competes to improve their models, several industry voices take advantage of the sector’s spotlight to warn of a problem: Powers can move faster than mechanisms designed to keep them in check.
An example is Alex Turner, a former Google DeepMind researcher. On October 5, he took the opportunity to appear before the New York City Council to issue a warning and maintain that the United States could pose a more worrisome threat than technological competition with China, since the North American country will have an AI whose objectives do not coincide with human interests.
The danger of developing artificial intelligence that escapes human control
Turner warned that “we’re racing to create and develop our own adversaries,” and said a misaligned AI has the potential to be more powerful than China’s. So, this term refers to enabling systems Pursues objectives incompatible with those of its developers Even if they are designed to perform useful functions.
Jacob Coxon, a former anthropologist, was another voice who attended the hearing and questioned the speed at which the industry is moving. From their perspective, maintaining the current trajectory implies substantial risk of seeing humanity lose control of future systems. Unfortunately, this situation will lead to disastrous consequences, but it must be emphasized that this is a prediction about possible situations and not a proven result.
The session was attended by representatives from Google, Meta, Anthropic, and OpenAI, and all of them answered questions under oath about the actual security of their models. City Council President Julie Menin took the opportunity to question the companies’ ability to measure the most serious risks and, at the same time, Determine who will take responsibility If your system is damaged.
The researchers’ concerns also point to the need to establish independent oversight mechanisms and greater transparency. The New York City Council is studying new obligations for companies, including external verification and protections for whistleblowers. The debate, therefore, is not limited to competing with China, but to determining how to develop increasingly capable technologies without losing the possibility of controlling it.
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