Andrew Ng Says AI Extinction Warnings Are Science Fiction, Fueled by PR Push

On September 17, renowned AI researcher Andrew Ng told Bloomberg Television that warnings from top model developers about AI existential risk are “science fiction” and may hinder efforts to ensure the technology delivers maximum societal benefit.

Ng, who co-founded Google Brain and online education platform Coursera, said the tech industry had stoked fears of catastrophic AI harm during the early AI boom, apparently to amplify publicity and influence regulation. “I’ve been quite frustrated over the past two weeks,” he said. “This PR campaign is coming back, probably for similar reasons.”

His remarks follow the high-profile resignation this month of former Anthropic and OpenAI researcher Jacob Coxon, who accused both companies of “gambling with our lives” by racing to build superintelligent AI, and said developers believe the technology could “kill us all before the end of this decade.” In response, AI leaders including Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei and OpenAI’s Sam Altman have called for a slower pace in frontier model development and stronger safeguards.

Ng, who once worked alongside Amodei and Altman, acknowledged real risks such as cybersecurity, but said fears of human extinction from AI are “more science fiction than science.” He urged the industry to focus on practical engineering problems to continually improve and protect the technology, while working to apply AI to beneficial uses.