Quote · The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett
OpenAI Whistleblower FINALLY Speaks: “AI Has A 70% Chance Of Going Horribly Wrong!“
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Intro
At 0:59 · chapter starts 0:00
Before any formal introduction, the episode drops the audience directly into the most alarming version of Kokotajlo's worldview. He describes the 'scary open secret' in the AI industry: the real possibility that humanity could end up creating a new species that rules the world, with a 70% chance that goes horribly wrong in ways that include human extinction. He reveals he told his wife they should not have more children because the future is too uncertain, and that he doesn't believe their children will ever join a traditional workforce. He explains that his credibility rests on his time at OpenAI in 2022, doing AI forecasting, and that he ultimately resigned because most of the world was 'asleep at the wheel.' Steven Bartlett then briefly mentions the $2 million the guest forfeited rather than sign a non-disparagement agreement. Kokotajlo's closing observation in this cold open — that powerful AI CEOs are 'literally afraid' that whichever rival gets to superintelligence first might become a dictator — lands as one of the episode's most memorable lines.
The AI industry privately acknowledges a 70% chance that building superintelligence ends in something like human extinction or catastrophic loss of control. This isn't fringe doomerism — it's the quiet consensus inside the labs, and the companies have strong incentives not to say it out loud.
Sam Altman, Dario Amodei, and Elon Musk are not racing for profit — they're racing because they are genuinely afraid that whichever rival gets to superintelligence first could become a global dictator. Each one has convinced themselves they need to win, because none of them trust the others.
