The economic puzzle behind AI giants’ doomsday warnings

September 14, 2026 — 3:00am

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Artificial intelligence researchers are not only racing to develop super-intelligent models, they’re also vying to out-do each other in making ever more apocalyptic predictions.

But do all these warnings about the dangers of AI from big AI firms and their staff strike you as a bit rich?

Last week the top scientist at OpenAI warned “no one is prepared for the consequences of a continued rapid rise in machine intelligence,” then days later Anthropic researchers claimed the AI giant was worried the technology could wipe out humanity.

These are merely the latest cases of AI doom-saying. We’ve also been told by AI firms that there should be a global freeze on development of the most powerful systems, or that some of their models are too dangerous to publicly release.

While some of these claims are probably just hype, many of the people making these warnings no doubt mean it.

Even so, there is a glaring tension: the people who are raising the alarm are often employed by (or have recently quit) the very companies that are driving the AI craze.

‘We must be stopped’: Why Australia needs to listen to the experts on AI

If AI firms hold genuine concerns about the future of humanity, thanks to a technology they are rushing to develop, surely they would be........

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