IN A recent White House press conference, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre couldn’t suppress her laughter at the question: Is it “crazy” to worry that “literally everyone on Earth will die” due to artificial intelligence? Unfortunately, the answer is no.

While AI pioneers such as Alan Turing cautioned that we should expect “machines to take control”, many contemporary researchers downplay this concern. In an era of unprecedented growth in AI abilities, why aren’t more experts weighing in?

Before the deep-learning revolution in 2012, I didn’t think human-level AI would emerge in my lifetime. I was familiar with arguments that AI systems …