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The Anthropic chief has mused on the implications of achieving superpowerful AI within the next few years — and doesn't think we're capable of collectively handling it
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Anthropic's meteoric rise in the technology industry sees it on the cusp of testing the limits of the AI industry's magnetic pull with a blockbuster IPO alongside its rival OpenAI this year. The company's CEO, Dario Amodei, has long opined about the technology, where it's heading, and how we can react — and the urgency is ratcheting up.
"Humanity is about to be handed almost unimaginable power, and it is deeply unclear whether our social, political, and technological systems possess the maturity to wield it."— Dario Amodei, January 2026Opining on the future of AI
Many scientists and technologists anticipate that AI will one day become so powerful that it can generate new knowledge, act on its own accord, and even improve itself. These ideas are at the heart of the argument that AI poses existential risks to humanity, as we may not be able to contain a future AI this capable, nor could we understand its motives.
Quote of the dayThis article is part of TechRadar Pro's QOTD project to provide an insight into the minds of the brightest and most recognized figures in the technology industry today and in years gone by. Read the full series here.
In an essay penned at the start of the year, Amodei returned to this subject, laying out what may feel like a very daunting situation based on the idea that, as a collective species, we are not ready to handle, let alone harness, what many expect us to one day build.
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The essay, which often reads like a manifesto, pushes the idea that it's important to push for responsible AI development within democracies while throwing roadblocks in the way of autocratic and hostile states developing their own version of this technology.
Building tomorrow's intelligence
The race to build artificial general intelligence (AGI) is underway, with scientists expecting this breakthrough to happen anywhere between later this year and the next couple of decades. It's a wide time window, for sure, but it has been narrowing. Amodei isn't the only CEO of an AI giant to opine on its arrival, with Sam Altman frequently writing on the subject.
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Keumars Afifi-SabetFreelance ContributorKeumars Afifi-Sabet is a freelance contributor for Tech Radar and the Technology Editor for Live Science. He has written for a variety of publications including ITPro, The Week Digital and ComputerActive. He has worked as a technology journalist for more than five years, having previously held the role of features editor with ITPro. In his previous role, he oversaw the commissioning and publishing of long form in areas including AI, cyber security, cloud computing and digital transformation.
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