Microsoft AI Head Warns Unchecked AI Could Create 'New Silicon Species'

The head of Microsoft AI has said that unless adequate restrictions are implemented in the development of artificial intelligence it could lead to the emergence of a new silicon species which would compete with humans

He described rival firm Anthropic's approach of treating AI like it is human as "misguided" as he warned against creating a technology humanity cannot control.

Speaking to the BBC's Today programme, Mustafa Suleyman said it is "right" that people are concerned or alarmed, but there are "very practical things that we can do to add additional guardrails and controls to how these models are developed".

The comments are the latest in a series of stark warnings from the AI industry on the possible dangers of the technology.

Speaking to the Today programme on Thursday, he said if firms continue to create AIs that create their own objectives, earn money and own assets, they are "essentially seeding a new silicon species which will no doubt compete with us for resources, no matter how much it cares about humanity and loves us".

The AI leader's comments to the BBC follow an essay he published earlier this week, where he warned about Anthropic's approach to training its AI model Claude.

He heavily criticised Anthropic for teaching its AI to have human-like qualities, a practice known as anthropomorphising, which he said made it seem as though Claude had its own desires, values and sense of self. The BBC has contacted Anthropic for comment.

In the essay, he warned tech firms risk creating something "impossible" to control by treating the technology like a human.

"AIs are not conscious," he wrote. "They do not feel, experience, or suffer. They do not have innate preferences or underlying motivations.

"They are sequence completion engines, internally hollow, designed to follow instructions, and accomplish goals set by humans."

Speaking to the BBC about an upcoming AI summit, he called for "alignment" to create technology that must be "subordinate" to humanity.

"I think that the good news here is that everybody who is human is going to have a very strong interest in making sure that the systems that we all create and... are used around the world in every nation are safe and controllable and subordinate to humanity.

"Everybody must be aligned," he said.

In his lengthy essay, Suleyman also praised Anthropic boss Dario Amodei and his team for being "thoughtful, principled, and intellectually honest people" - but nevertheless questioned the company.

Suleyman argued "consciousness is biological", saying there is "no evidence to suggest that AI is conscious".

As well as calling for a debate on the issue, Suleyman said greater transparency around how AI systems are trained and evaluated was needed.

This, he said, included independent scrutiny of AI behaviour and stronger tools to monitor and control the technology.

"We must not sleepwalk our way into a decision we later come to bitterly regret," he wrote.

Dame Wendy Hall, professor of Computer Science at the University of Southampton, described the comments as "the sort of conversation we need to be having internationally", contrasting it with the "histrionics" from some AI companies which she said only served to "scare everyone".