Virologist counters AI-doom skeptic: no one should wager 10% extinction risk for humanity

GaryMarcus · x · 2026-09-14

Gary Marcus amplifies virologist Angie Rasmussen's rebuttal to critics of METR-style AI oversight. Rasmussen argues that if she designed a virus with a 10% chance of causing human extinction, she would never build it without regulatory approval, since that would presume to take the risk on behalf of all humanity — and would be a crime. The quoted post had slammed METR as not independent, calling it one of the most extreme AI-safetyist/effective-altruist groups in Silicon Valley and warning that appointing such people as AI regulators would be a disaster.

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