OpenAI Prepares for Public Backlash After AI Disaster

Growing public opposition to artificial intelligence is prompting OpenAI and Anthropic to prepare for scenarios involving widespread social unrest after a catastrophic AI-related incident. According to Axios, the companies are conducting preparedness exercises that examine potential crises, including cyberattacks enabled by their products and political backlash following a disaster involving AI models.

Two recent US surveys illustrate the extent of public concern. A Wall Street Journal poll conducted in late September found that 63 percent of US adults supported an immediate pause in AI development. Separately, a Politico survey found that about two-thirds of Americans had at least moderate anxiety about AI potentially destroying humanity.

These findings provide context for the contingency planning underway at major AI companies. The exercises are designed to help executives and teams consider how they might respond to hypothetical emergencies and the public reaction that could follow.

OpenAI confirmed that it conducts exercises to prepare for a range of possible situations, while emphasizing that the scenarios are not predictions of what will happen.

"OpenAI conducts preparedness exercises where teams discuss and work through a range of potential scenarios." an OpenAI spokesperson told Axios.

The company said these exercises cover different circumstances rather than assuming that any specific disaster will occur. The planning includes scenarios involving cyberattacks enabled by AI products and political opposition following a catastrophic event attributed to AI systems.

"These scenarios are not treated as inevitable, but are meant to help us prepare for a variety of circumstances," the spokesperson said.

Anthropic declined to comment to Axios about its contingency planning. The company has also faced scrutiny over its approach to monitoring opposition to artificial intelligence.

In September, reports indicated that Anthropic was developing a system to monitor anti-AI protest movements. The reported effort included an intelligence-gathering approach described as seeking to identify potential threats before incidents occur.

The preparations come amid broader public dissatisfaction with the growing influence of AI companies and their chief executives. Earlier efforts by prominent technology leaders, including Mark Zuckerberg, to improve public perceptions of the industry had not resolved concerns reflected in the surveys cited by Futurism.

Axios reported that OpenAI and Anthropic were examining hypothetical crises through exercises resembling military planning simulations. The scenarios include both technological emergencies and the possibility of a political revolt following a catastrophic event involving AI.