SNL takes aim at AI warnings

Saturday Night Live spoofed the AI industry's recent doom warnings last night, with cast member Jane Wickline offering an impression of Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei.

Amodei's stumbling press tour

Weekend Update host Michael Che described the CEO as having stumbled through a press tour where he seemingly agreed with a former employee's claim that artificial intelligence might destroy humanity.

Wickline's dark Amodei

Wickline's version of Amodei sported an impressive wig and delivered halting answers that occasionally devolved into full-on Gollum-style exchanges with her dark side, confessing, AI is the devil and I its maker.

“AI is the devil and I its maker.”

The contradictory message

Wickline-as-Amodei assured audiences that AI executives are all on the same page: We do not condone what we are doing. AI is not a weapon, it's a tool: A tool for building weapons.

“We do not condone what we are doing.”

The cancer cure caveat

On AI's supposed benefits like potentially curing cancer, the fictional Amodei said, Put it this way: In ten years, there's about a ten percent chance that cancer won't be a problem for anyone.

“In 10 years, there's about a 10% chance that cancer won't be a problem for anyone.”

A plea to stop AI

The sketch ended with Wickline-as-Amodei urging audiences to urge him to stop, wrapping up the satire of the CEO's contradictory stance on artificial intelligence's risks and benefits.

“I urge you to urge me to stop.”