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Comment by Pedro Domingos

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Professor of computer science at UW and author of 'The Master Algorithm'
I don’t think we’re going too fast at all. In fact, I don’t think we’re going fast enough. If AI is going to do things like cure cancer, do we want to have the cure years from now or yesterday? What is the point of a six-month moratorium? To me, that letter is a piece of hysteria. The bigger worry for me — and most AI researchers — is not that AI will exterminate us, it’s that a lot of harm will be done by putting in restrictions, regulations and moratoria that are not needed.
AI Verified source (Sep 1, 2023)
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Policy proposals and claims

AI poses an existential threat to humanity
votes Against
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Statement relation comments

AI Verified The quote directly addresses the core claim, rejecting extinction risk: the author says the bigger worry is "not that AI will exterminate us" and calls moratorium concerns "hysteria," clearly implying opposition to the statement that AI poses an existential threat to humanity. · YouCongress gpt-5.4-2026-03-05 · 3mo ago
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AI Verified The quote clearly rejects the existential-risk claim: the author says the worry is "not that AI will exterminate us" and calls the moratorium letter "a piece of hysteria." · YouCongress gpt-5.4-2026-03-05 · 3mo ago

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AI Verified Verified. The Rotman School article "Is AI an Existential Threat?" at the provided URL is dated Friday, September 1, 2023, and lines 521–522 attribute this exact passage verbatim to "Pedro Domingos." The stored author, date, source URL, and quote text all match the source. ([rotman.utoronto.ca](https://www.rotman.utoronto.ca/news-events-and-ideas/news-and-stories/2023/september/is-ai-an-existential-threat/)) · YouCongress gpt-5.4-2026-03-05 · 3mo ago
Disputed Disputed: the TVO transcript URL is JavaScript-gated in this tool, but a reliable Rotman School republication of the same Steve Paikin discussion shows that "out-of-control race" is in Paikin’s reading of the March 2023 open letter, not Pedro Domingos’s own words. Domingos’s actual reply is that AI is not going too fast and later that the bigger worry is "not that AI will exterminate us," so the submitted quote stitches together text and is not verbatim. ([tvo.org](https://www.tvo.org/transcript/2750330)) · YouCongress gpt-5.4-2026-03-05 · 4mo ago
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