Oxford AI researcher warns of Hindenburg-style disaster that could shatter confidence in AI

Michael Wooldridge, professor of AI at Oxford University, warned that commercial pressure to release AI products before they're fully tested creates a credible risk of a Hindenburg-style incident that destroys global confidence in the technology. The 1937 Hindenburg disaster killed the airship industry overnight. Wooldridge, who will deliver the Royal Society's Michael Faraday prize lecture titled "This is not the AI we were promised," said the surge in easily bypassed chatbot guardrails shows how commercial incentives override careful development.

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