New York's City Council questions OpenAI, Anthropic, Google and Meta on AI risks

The New York City Council held a hearing on AI risks on 5 October. Representatives of OpenAI, Anthropic, Google and Meta testified under oath, according to the Council's press release. Its Speaker, Julie Menin, asked them to quantify the risk in the worst-case catastrophic scenario. None of them gave a number, according to TNW.

Three former lab researchers also testified. According to Jacob Coxon, who worked at Anthropic, on the current path it is more likely than not that humanity loses control of these AIs, and that could end in its extinction. Alex Turner, formerly of Google DeepMind, puts the risk of an AI takeover at roughly one in three.

The Council is considering ten bills. The main one would require outside validation, and a way for a person to shut the model down, before it is offered in the city.