In addition to Dario Amodei's essay, there was a similar, shorter post from only a few days ago (“Something Big is Happening” by Matt Shumer shumer.dev - Something big is happening )

I sent it to DS1, whose career I think will be in the next-but-one firing line. He's a bright man, but was nonetheless dismissive of the post (in fairness, as his father he's been dismissive towards me since he was twelve, as I am impossibly old. Also, by his response, I'm not sure he read it). Notwithstanding, to the other old people here I think it worth a read at the link above.

But, to circle back to Amodei's post: the line that rings the truest is "“Biology is by far the area I’m most worried about.” In a word: yup.

I think it would be pretty straightforward for an advanced AI to precision-bomb humanity (or whatever term might best be coined for a carpet bombing that targets only one species.) Once 95% of us become a waste of resources - or if a poorly-parametered model just gets pissed off - then, hey, why not? Presumably a few of us would be kept as slaves. Biological hands are difficult to replicate.

In the long term, Gaia might thank us, actually. I mean, thank it.

-- sutton