A new survey shows that the majority of Americans believe that artificial intelligence could pose a threat to human survival. This comes as Donald Trump, the President of the United States, downplays the risks of this technology.
Survey and Its Results
According to an online survey of 2,064 people, 70 percent of those who voted for Kamala Harris, the former Vice President, in the 2024 election believe that artificial intelligence poses a moderate risk (29 percent), a significant risk (24 percent), or a near certainty (17 percent) of human extinction. In contrast, 21 percent of respondents stated that the risks are either low (14 percent) or nonexistent (7 percent).
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On the other hand, 61 percent of Trump voters also believe that artificial intelligence could pose risks to human survival. Among these individuals, 20 percent see the risk as very low, 9 percent see no risk, and 10 percent refrained from commenting on this issue.
Trump's Reaction and Other Politicians' Views
This survey comes as Trump has recently rejected any intentional slowdown in the development of artificial intelligence. Some pioneers in the field, including Sam Altman from OpenAI and Elon Musk from xAI, have expressed a desire to slow down the development of this technology. Recently, Jacob Coxon, a former researcher at Anthropic, claimed he left the company because he views building artificial intelligence as "gambling with our lives."
Trump also called any claims regarding the threat of artificial intelligence a "lie" and compared it to climate change. He stated that the only necessary "guardian" for this technology is a "strong and intelligent" president and warned that significant restrictions on the development of artificial intelligence in the United States could cede initiative to Chinese competitors.
In Congress, lawmakers from both parties have emphasized the need for action to oversee the development of artificial intelligence. Senator Bernie Sanders has also expressed regret over Trump's ignorance on this issue, calling it "deeply shameful." Republican Senator John Kennedy has proposed legislation requiring artificial intelligence developers to include a "kill switch" in their programs.
Additionally, another survey shows that 53 percent of Americans are concerned about the environmental impacts of artificial intelligence data centers. This figure has increased from 41 percent last year.
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Source: independent.co.uk
