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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Technology
Rachel Hall

Nick Clegg plays down fears ‘godlike’ AI could exterminate humanity

Clegg gesturing while speaking in 2022 with Meta logo behind
Nick Clegg, who stepped down from Meta in 2025, said one person who runs an AI lab told him the current discourse was ‘totally silly’. Photograph: Kenzo Tribouillard/AFP/Getty Images

Nick Clegg has dismissed fears over AI’s “godlike power to exterminate humanity”, calling it a sign that tech bosses are “breathing their own fumes”.

The former UK deputy prime minister said that tech bosses should focus on addressing known specific threats such as cybersecurity and bioweapons rather than the “slightly hand-wavy view that this technology is unavoidably going to develop some godlike power which is going to turn on us and exterminate humanity”.

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