Why AI researchers keep building something they think will kill humans

A masked protester holds a placard saying 'Skynet Just Woke Up' in reference to the Terminator movies in London during a 2021 anti-lockdown demonstration. ZUMA Press Wire via Reuters Connect A version of this story originally appeared in the AI Insider newsletter. Sign up for the weekly AI Insider newsletter here . On Tuesday, OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar headlined a packed Goldman Sachs tech conference in San Francisco. One thing she said really stood out to me: The company's biggest models can now train other smaller models, helping OpenAI save on the huge costs of training these systems. This is an example of recursive self improvement, or RSI, where AI gets so powerful it can create the next, even more powerful, system itself. For the Wall Street analysts and investors around me at the Goldman conference, this sounded like an amazing business opportunity.