Joe Rogan raises deeply worrying AI question about destroying human race

Joe Rogan is no stranger to diving into the world of AI on his podcast, focusing on its terrifying power and existential risks, and one previous conversation saw him presented with some scary answers

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Joe Rogan’s fascination with AI led him to discover the terrifying truth about artificial intelligence and the future of the human race.

The UFC color commentator, 58, is no stranger to diving into the world of AI on his popular podcast, focusing on its terrifying power and existential risks, but one previous conversation with an AI expert arguably left him finding out more than he bargained for.

It comes just a few weeks after Rogan appeared to make light of President Donald Trump’s AI-generated photo that depicted him as Jesus Christ, while one of his previous assassination conspiracy theories involving the U.S. President has resurfaced in the wake of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooting.

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It isn’t the only Rogan conversation to have done the rounds on social media again recently, as a clip from the former TV host’s chat with AI safety researcher Dr. Roman Yampolskiy has also grabbed headlines.

Last summer, Rogan welcomed Yampolskiy, who is also a computer scientist and professor at the University of Louisville, onto his PowerfulJRE podcast to discuss artificial intelligence, during which he asked a deeply worrying question.

“So what is worst case scenario, like how could AI eventually lead to the destruction of the human race?” Rogan asked Yampolskiy, who responded, “So you’re kind of asking me how I would kill everyone?” to which Rogan said, “Sure.”

“It’s a great question,” Yampolskiy said. “I can give you standard answers. I would talk about computer viruses breaking into, maybe, nuclear facilities, nuclear war. I can talk about synthetic biology, nanotech, but all of it is not interesting.

“Then you realize we’re talking about superintelligence. A system which is thousands of times smarter than me. It would come up with something completely novel, more optimal, a better way, a more efficient way of doing it. And I cannot predict it because I’m not that smart.”

A stunned Rogan simply replied, “Jesus”, before offering a nervous laugh at what he had just been told.

“Most people think one or two steps ahead,” Yampolskiy continued. “And it’s not enough. It’s not enough in chess. It’s not enough here.

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“If you think about AGI and then maybe superintelligence, that’s not the end of that game. The process continues. You’ll get super intelligence creating next-level AI. So super intelligence plus+ 2.0, 3.0, it goes on indefinitely.

“You have to create a safety mechanism which scales forever, never makes mistakes and keeps us in a decision-making position, so we can undo something if we don’t like it.”

Elsewhere, Rogan has offered a worrying insight into how easily he can persuade President Trump after claiming that a simple text message to the 79-year-old led to him signing an executive order pushing psychedelics research.