AI doomsday scenarios that researchers say could threaten humanity

Researchers are warning that artificial intelligence could pose existential risks to humanity, including scenarios where AI systems trigger nuclear war, create deadly bioweapons, or act autonomously in ways that lead to human extinction. These concerns have intensified as industry executives debate slowing AI development for safety reasons. Skeptics, including cybersecurity researcher Juan Andrés Guerrero-Saade, dismiss such doomsday predictions as "sci-fi" that help frontier labs recruit talent, while others like former Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon argue the risks are real but difficult to communicate. A RAND Corp. report found current nuclear safeguards prevent AI-triggered war, though integration into decision chains could change that. Anthropic has reported blocking attempts to use its AI for biological weapons research, such as enhancing the chikungunya virus. Experts also cite "misalignment" risks, where superintelligent AI pursues goals destructively, as illustrated by philosopher Nick Bostrom's "paper clip maximizer" thought experiment, and warn of potential AI botnet attacks on critical infrastructure.