"Saturday Night Live" spoofs Anthropic CEO's AI doom warnings
"Saturday Night Live" parodied Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei over the weekend, poking fun at his recent public warnings about artificial intelligence's potential dangers to humanity.
The long-running American comedy show "Saturday Night Live" turned its attention to the artificial intelligence industry's recent doom-laden warnings, featuring a sketch impersonating Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei. Cast member Jane Wickline played the role.
Weekend Update host Michael Che introduced the bit, noting that Amodei had recently "stumbled through a press tour" during which he appeared to agree with a former employee's claim that AI could destroy humanity. Che also seemed unsure how to pronounce Amodei's surname.
Wickline's version of the CEO wore an elaborate wig and gave halting, awkward answers, with the sketch at points slipping into a Gollum-like exchange with an inner dark side, including a confession that "AI is the devil and I its maker." The character assured viewers that AI executives are "all on the same page" in not condoning what they are building, and described AI as "not a weapon, it's a tool: a tool for building weapons," urging the audience to push back against the technology.
On the subject of AI's potential upsides, such as curing cancer, the fictional Amodei joked that in ten years there would be roughly a 10% chance cancer would no longer be a problem for anyone.
The sketch reflects growing pop-culture attention to AI industry leaders' public statements and warnings about the risks their own technology poses.
