The recent emergence of foundation model-based chatbots, such as ChatGPT (OpenAI, San Francisco, CA, USA), has showcased remarkable language mastery and intuitive comprehension capabilities. Despite significant efforts to identify and address the near-term risks associated with artificial intelligence (AI), our understanding of the existential threats they pose remains limited. Near-term risks stem from AI that already exist or are under active development with a clear trajectory towards deployment. Existential risks of AI can be an extension of the near-term risks studied by the fairness, accountability, transparency and ethics community, and are characterised by a potential to threaten humanity’s long-term potential. In this paper, we delve into the ways AI can give rise to existential harm and explore potential risk mitigation strategies. This involves further investigation of critical domains, including AI alignment, overtrust in AI, AI safety, open-sourcing, the implications of AI to healthcare and the broader societal risks.
