Thought Leadership
Dario Amodei warns that an AI-powered botnet swarm could take over the internet within months.
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has once again called for a slowdown in AI development in an open letter, warning of a potential AI-powered botnet swarm capable of taking over the entire internet.
“Given the accelerating rate of AI capability development, it’s my worry that in 6–12 months such a swarm could be capable of taking over the entire internet with a persistent botnet (potentially causing hundreds of billions of dollars in damage), and that the scale of damage would continue to increase from there if AI becomes more powerful without the necessary guardrails.”
Former Anthropic Researcher Voices Similar Concern
Evan Hubinger, an AI researcher who recently left Anthropic, recently expressed a similar view. In a post on X, he put the probability that AI could wipe out humanity by the end of the decade at more than 10 percent:
“Jacob is correct here—we really do earnestly believe AI could kill all humans! I personally think it is >10% within the next decade. I believe Anthropic is trying its best, but we do not yet have a plan to solve alignment for superintelligence and are not clearly on track to.”
Evan Hubinger
Growing Autonomous Capabilities as a Background
According to Anthropic, current AI models can already assist with areas such as weapons technology, military intelligence, surveillance, and cyber operations. More capable successor models could significantly reduce the expertise, personnel, and time required to carry out such activities.
(Editorial Team)
