SF protesters warn of 'human extinction' with AI's increasing intelligence, call for regulation
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- As artificial intelligence continues to advance, there are renewed calls for regulation. But that might not happen because of a provision in President Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill.
Protesters outside OpenAI offices in San Francisco were sounding the alarm about what could happen if the technology remains.
"Our primary demand is to permanently ban Artificial General Intelligence and Artificial Superintelligence," said Sam Kirchner with the group Stop AI. "If we lose control of it, it will very likely cause human extinction."
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"We wanted to make a statement, we want to get the word out to the public about this new technology, which is very dangerous," said Bill Lo. "It poses an existential threat to humanity itself."
AI's increasing intelligence is highlighted in a recent study from Anthropic. The company found that its newest AI model consistently turns to blackmail when engineers threaten to take it offline.
We know that AI is getting smarter and smarter and will eventually, at some point, be smarter than people. This is often referred to as AGI or Artificial General Intelligence.
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A handful of bills aimed at regulating the technology are making their way through the California state legislature.
"I have a bill to protect whistleblowers at AI labs," said State Senator Scott Wiener. "If you see something that's perhaps inappropriate or dangerous, they should be able to come forward without being worried about retaliation."
But President Trump's 'One Big Beautiful Bill Act' is threatening to upend the state's efforts.
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"A horrible provision to override all state regulation of AI for ten years," said Wiener. "So, California would no longer be able to ban or regulate, deepfake revenge porn, which could also include fake kiddie porn."
"I think the greatest challenge is that a lot of people are apathetic to the idea that they see very, very powerful AI and think they can't do anything," said Kirchner.
"Short of people and people power coming out, there is no hope because we're talking about human extinction," said Lo.
