Some of the biggest names in the development of artificial intelligence (AI) have called for global leaders to work towards mitigating the risk of “extinction” from the technology. In a short statement, which did not clarify what they think may become extinct, business and academic leaders said the risks from AI should be treated with the same urgency as pandemics or nuclear war. “Mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war,” they said. The statement was organised by the Centre for AI Safety, a San Francisco-based non-profit which aims “to reduce societal-scale risks from AI”. It said the use of AI in warfare could be “extremely harmful” as it could be used to develop new chemical weapons and enhance aerial combat. The letter was signed by some of the biggest names in the field, including Geoffrey Hinton, who is sometimes nicknamed the “Godfather of AI”. The signatories also include Sam Altman and Ilya Sutskever, the chief executive and co-founder respectively of ChatGPT-developer OpenAI. The list also included dozens of academics, senior bosses at companies like Google DeepMind, the co-founder of Skype, and the founders of AI company Anthropic. AI is now in the global consciousness after several firms released new tools allowing users to generate text, images and even computer code by just asking for what they want. Experts say the technology could take over jobs from humans – but this statement warns of an even deeper concern. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live

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New research has shown that our early ancestors almost went extinct some 900,000 years ago. Using a new method called FitCoal (fast infinitesimal time coalescent process), researchers analysed the likelihood of present-day genome sequences to project current human genomic variation backwards in time. They applied the technique to the genomes of 3,154 people from 10 African and 40 non-African populations, and found a massive crash in genetic diversity during the transition between the early and middle Pleistocene. “Results showed that human ancestors went through a severe population bottleneck with about 1,280 breeding individuals between around 930,000 and 813,000 years ago,” the study authors wrote in the journal Science. “The bottleneck lasted for about 117,000 years and brought human ancestors close to extinction,” they say. Wiping out roughly 98.7 percent of the ancestral human population, “the bottleneck could also have increased the inbreeding level of our ancestors, thus contributing to the 65.85 percent loss in present-day human genetic diversity,” explained the researchers. This probably happened because of changes in the global climate as short-term glaciations became longer-lasting, triggering a drop in ocean temperatures, prolonged drought, and the loss of large numbers of species that humans might have relied on for food. Then, around 813,000 years ago, populations finally recovered, with a 20-fold increase in numbers because of fire combined with the return of warmer temperatures, researchers reckon. What a near miss, eh? Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

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Scientists have resurrected a parasite which has been dormant in the frozen permafrost of Siberia for 46,000 years. The microscopic creatures were first uncovered as part of a remarkable discovery back in 2018. At the time, researchers led by Anastasia Shatilovich found two of the worms in sub-zero temperatures in the soil. At first, it was previously thought that the creatures could stay in their slumber for just 40 years. However, it was later revealed that they could stay inactive for tens of thousands of years. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter The creatures tend to shut down their systems when they are in unfavourable conditions. This means they won’t move or reproduce, and their metabolism stops. Carbon analysis has revealed that the worms – also known as nematodes – came from a prehistoric era. The developments could change the way experts approach bringing back other extinct species, too. During an analysis, the research team discovered the worms were Panagrolaimus kolymaensis - a species that was previously thought to be extinct. The scientists wrote in their paper: “Previously, we had shown that nematodes from the Siberian permafrost with morphologies consistent with the genera Panagrolaimus and Plectus could be reanimated thousands of years after they had been frozen. “Several viable nematode individuals were found in two of the more than 300 studied samples of permafrost deposits spanning different ages and genesis.” It’s not the only thing that scientists have recovered from permafrost, either. It was announced earlier this year that scientists are busy working on reviving 'zombie viruses’ that have been lying dormant for tens of thousands of years in Arctic conditions, and while it sounds absolutely terrifying, it could be important when it comes to protecting us all in the future. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

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