It sounds a bit OTT, but that’s what a group of tech experts is warning could be in store for humanity if the risks posed by artificial intelligence aren’t addressed. Hundreds of executives and academics – including the bosses of ChatGPT developer OpenAI and Google’s DeepMind – signed a statement saying mitigating the development of AI technology “should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war”. They’re concerned AI systems could become impossible to control once they reach a certain level of intelligence. But other respected figures in the field, including Meta’s chief AI scientist Yann LeCun, say the concerns are overblown and unrealistic. It’s the latest warning of the dangers of AI in recent months, and Dan Hendrycks, the boss of the Center for AI Safety – the non-profit that published the statement – said it disproved misconceptions that there are only a handful of “doomers” in the industry.