AI company employees report psychological problems due to fears for the future of humanity

Employees of the world's leading companies developing artificial intelligence technologies are massively experiencing psychological problems due to the stress associated with working on systems that, in their opinion, could seriously harm the future of humanity. The Financial Times (FT) writes about this with reference to its own sources.

At Anthropic, OpenAI and Google DeepMind, employees have openly complained about such experiences, and more than a dozen top people at these AI giants have quit in the past two years, citing concerns about their leaders prioritizing security and concerns about the pace and risks of technology development, according to the publication.

Thus, a DeepMind employee said on condition of anonymity that working to improve the safety of AI is associated with the risk of burnout, since it seems like an “impossible task,” and the development of artificial intelligence in general carries risks for mental health, since it is impossible to understand how the technology will be used. FT’s interlocutor illustrated this thesis with the example of Google’s deal with the Pentagon, which allows the use of AI systems in secret military operations. “A lot of people are upset, there have been multiple layoffs and a lot of mental health leave,” he shared.

A few days ago, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said that without action, AI could outpace human ability to control systems and advocated slowing down the pace of improving the capabilities of AI models, as well as “using the time gained wisely.” He was supported by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, and investor Michael Burry, who had many times predicted crashes in the American stock market, criticized this position of top managers, suggesting that they were inflating the price of their business before the IPO and trying to hide the real slowdown in the growth rate of the AI ​​industry.