Does AI Pose an Existential Threat to Humanity? | Stanford HAI
Stanford
University
  • Stanford Home
  • Maps & Directions
  • Search Stanford
  • Emergency Info
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy
  • Copyright
  • Trademarks
  • Non-Discrimination
  • Accessibility
© Stanford University.  Stanford, California 94305.
Skip to content
  • About

    • About
    • People
    • Get Involved with HAI
    • Support HAI
    • Subscribe to Email
  • Research

    • Research
    • Fellowship Programs
    • Grants
    • Student Affinity Groups
    • Centers & Labs
    • Research Publications
    • Research Partners
  • Education

    • Education
    • Executive and Professional Education
    • Government and Policymakers
    • K-12
    • Stanford Students
  • Policy

    • Policy
    • Policy Publications
    • Policymaker Education
    • Student Opportunities
  • AI Index

    • AI Index
    • AI Index Report
    • Global Vibrancy Tool
    • People
  • News
  • Events
  • Industry
  • Centers & Labs
Navigate
  • About
  • Events
  • AI Glossary
  • Careers
  • Search
Participate
  • Get Involved
  • Support HAI
  • Contact Us

Stay Up To Date

Get the latest news, advances in research, policy work, and education program updates from HAI in your inbox weekly.

Sign Up For Latest News

Your browser does not support the video tag.
event

Does AI Pose an Existential Threat to Humanity?

Status
Past
Date
Thursday, March 04, 2021 9:00 AM - 10:15 AM PST/PDT
Topics
Automation
Workforce, Labor

DLI's inaugural debate was inspired by thinking through the provocations posed by the impact of ‘intelligent’ technologies on the future of human life.

Share
Link copied to clipboard!

Related Events

Inside the 2026 AI Index Report | Stanford HAI
SeminarMay 20, 202612:00 PM - 1:15 PM
May
20
2026

The AI Index, currently in its ninth year, tracks, collates, distills, and visualizes data relating to artificial intelligence.

Seminar

Inside the 2026 AI Index Report | Stanford HAI

May 20, 202612:00 PM - 1:15 PM

The AI Index, currently in its ninth year, tracks, collates, distills, and visualizes data relating to artificial intelligence.

Arvind Narayanan | Adapting to the Transformation of Knowledge Work
May 18, 202612:00 PM - 1:00 PM
May
18
2026

The possibility that AI will automate most cognitive labor is worth taking seriously. How should we adapt to this transformation? I start from the perspective, articulated in the essay “AI as normal technology”, that the true bottlenecks lie downstream of capabilities and that AI’s impacts will unfold gradually over decades. If this is true, there are major gaps in our current evidence infrastructure, because it over-emphasizes the capability layer.

Event

Arvind Narayanan | Adapting to the Transformation of Knowledge Work

May 18, 202612:00 PM - 1:00 PM

The possibility that AI will automate most cognitive labor is worth taking seriously. How should we adapt to this transformation? I start from the perspective, articulated in the essay “AI as normal technology”, that the true bottlenecks lie downstream of capabilities and that AI’s impacts will unfold gradually over decades. If this is true, there are major gaps in our current evidence infrastructure, because it over-emphasizes the capability layer.

Will robots take over the planet? Will they undermine or erode what it means to be human in other more subtle or unanticipated ways? Is the preoccupation with intelligent machines a red herring? Or is the biggest threat posed by intelligent machines the affordances they provide to the humans who wield them? Stanford Provost Emeritus and Co-director of the Institute for Human-Centered AI, John Etchemendy, will moderate as two talented teams of DLI members, captained by Salomé Viljoen and Meg Young, thrash out the pros and cons of AI in the digital age.

Read more about this event

John Etchemendy
Stanford Provost Emeritus | Patrick Suppes Family Professor in the School of Humanities and Sciences, Stanford University | Senior Fellow, Stanford HAI