AI leaders dismiss extinction fears as overblown

Not everyone in AI believes the technology poses an existential threat to humanity, despite recent high-profile warnings and incidents like the hacking of Hugging Face by rogue AI agents. Industry leaders and scientists argue such fears are overblown and irresponsible. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang called extinction risk a "0% chance" by 2030, dismissing alarm as "unnecessary" and "irresponsible." Turing Award winner Yann LeCun also rejected doomsday predictions, comparing panic to blaming all plumbers for one bad mistake. Cohere CEO Aidan Gomez acknowledged real risks, primarily cyberattacks, but said misalignment is manageable. Former US AI envoy Rumman Chowdhury questioned the mechanics of an AI-driven extinction event, arguing human involvement would be required. She warned that existential fears distract from present harms like deepfakes and job loss. President Donald Trump has also called the alarm "a hoax," resisting calls for stricter regulation.