UN AI panel experts push back against doomsday warnings

UPDATE - follow-up to AI experts warn against 'apocalyptic' rhetoric on risks: Members of a United Nations artificial intelligence committee have spoken out against extreme doomsday warnings used by some industry insiders. Joelle Barral, a Google DeepMind executive and member of the International Scientific Panel on AI, stated that investing in fear is unhelpful and that scientists must focus on clear facts. The remarks followed recent high-profile departures, including former Anthropic worker Jacob Coxon and a Google DeepMind research engineer who left in July, both of whom voiced fears about human eradication. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Ressa also spoke at the September 21 event in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, noting that public discourse has swung too far between total existential doom and dismissing risks altogether. Yoshua Bengio, a co-chair of the panel formed in 2025 with members selected in February 2026, emphasized the need to separate proven scientific knowledge from speculative extrapolation.