Suleyman: Uncontrolled AI could spawn 'silicon species' — SkimNews
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- Mustafa Suleyman, head of Microsoft AI, warned that without adequate safeguards, AI could create a 'silicon species' that would 'compete with us for resources, no matter how much it cares about humanity and loves us'
- Suleyman specifically criticized rival Anthropic for training Claude with human-like qualities (anthropomorphising), calling the approach 'misguided' and warning it risks creating technology humanity cannot control
- Suleyman told the BBC's Today programme on Thursday that AI capable of setting its own objectives, earning money, and owning assets would be 'essentially seeding a new silicon species'
- In an essay published earlier in the week, Suleyman wrote 'AIs are not conscious. They do not feel, experience, or suffer' — describing them as 'sequence completion engines, internally hollow, designed to follow instructions'
- Microsoft published its 'Humanist AI Code of Conduct' on Monday, defining 'humanist superintelligence' as AI that 'always works for people, stays within limits, and remains under human control'
- Dame Wendy Hall, professor of Computer Science at the University of Southampton, endorsed Suleyman's tone as 'the sort of conversation we need to be having internationally,' contrasting it with 'histrionics' from some AI companies
Why it matters: Microsoft's AI chief publicly named a specific competitor — Anthropic — and its training approach on the BBC, escalating an industry-wide race to claim the 'safety first' mantle. Microsoft itself founded a superintelligence team in October 2025, so the moral high ground carries obvious competitive stakes for the next phase of the AI race.
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