Why are AI leaders calling for a slow down?

It's been a remarkable week in the world of Artificial Intelligence. Last Tuesday, a researcher resigned from Anthropic, saying AI companies are "racing straight to self-improving superintelligence and gambling with our lives." A current Anthropic employee agreed, saying he gives AI more than a 10 per cent chance of causing human extinction within the next 10 years. Then on Saturday, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei published an essay calling to slow the development of AI, so that safety measures can keep pace with the technology. His competitors, Sam Altman and Elon Musk, endorsed the idea. Gary Marcus is a cognitive scientist, an AI expert, and author of books including Taming Silicon Valley. He is a frequent skeptic of the AI industry's claims, but he saw some things he liked in Dario Amodei's essay. He joins us to talk about why this discussion is happening now, just how dangerous AI really is, and what we should do about it. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit:  https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts