Last night, Saturday Night Live featured cast member Jane Wickline’s impressions of Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei and recent warnings of doom for the AI industry.
Weekend Update host Michael Che, who sounded a little unsure about the pronunciation of Amodei’s last name, began his segment by explaining that the CEO “stumbled on a press tour,” apparently agreeing with a former employee’s claim that artificial intelligence could wipe out humanity.
Wickline’s version of Amodei donned an impressive wig and gave halting answers that at one point devolve into full-on Gollum-esque interactions with their dark side, confessing at one point that “the AI is the devil and I am its maker.”
Wickline-as-Amodei assured the audience that AI executives “we’re all on the same page here. We’re not condoning what we’re doing.”
“AI is not a weapon. It’s a tool. It’s a tool for building weapons,” she declared. “And please encourage them to stop.”
Regarding the technology’s supposed benefits, including the possibility of curing cancer, the fictional Amodei said, “Let’s put it this way: In 10 years, there’s about a 10% chance that cancer won’t be a problem for everyone.”
