Pinker's open letter calls AI extinction fears overblown, backs sober safety engineering
The AI-risk debate shifts from doomsday rhetoric toward oversight and liability; Pinker's admission he underestimated models is the notable part.
Original event 2026-09-26
Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker wrote in a September 26 open letter on Quillette that fears of AI wiping out humanity are overblown, and declined psychiatrist and influential tech blogger Scott Alexander's invitation to a public debate, calling such events a "spectator sport."
Pinker admits he underestimated how capable large language models would become and how recklessly AI companies would release their products. The dangers he takes seriously are bioterrorism, cyberattacks and unchecked AI agents; what works, he writes, is safety engineering built on independent oversight, liability and human control.
Alexander had put the odds of AI wiping out humanity at 20 percent on his blog in June, calling for better safety research and international agreements to slow development.