Anthropic’s chief scientist, Jared Kaplan, has issued a warning. He says humanity must decide by 2030 whether it is willing to take the ultimate risk of allowing artificial intelligence (AI) systems to train themselves and grow more powerful. Kaplan stated that a choice is approaching for humanity regarding how much freedom or autonomy AI systems should be given to evolve. This decision could either trigger a helpful “intelligence explosion” or lead to the moment humans lose control of the technology.In an interview with The Guardian, Kaplan discussed the intense race to achieve artificial general intelligence (AGI), also known as superintelligence. He urged international governments and society to engage in what he called “the biggest decision.” While efforts to align the fast-advancing technology with human interests have succeeded so far, Kaplan explained that allowing AI to recursively self-improve “is in some ways the ultimate risk, because it’s kind of like letting AI kind of go.” He estimates this critical decision could come between 2027 and 2030.However, Kaplan noted that he feels confident as long as AI remains at or below human intelligence, it will stay aligned with human needs. It is what happens after AI becomes smarter than people that worries him.“If you imagine you create this process where you have an AI that is smarter than you, or about as smart as you, it’s [then] making an AI that’s much smarter. It sounds like a kind of scary process. You don’t know where you end up,” Kaplan explained to The Guardian.

Anthropic chief scientist says AI will replace all of these jobs in three years

Kaplan went from being a theoretical physics researcher to an AI billionaire in just seven years of working in the field. In the interview, he explained that AI systems could do most “blue-collar jobs” within two to three years. He also said that his six-year-old son will never be able to outperform an AI on school tasks like writing essays or solving maths exams. Kaplan believes it is reasonable to worry about humans losing control of AI if the systems begin to improve themselves. He described the race toward advanced general intelligence as daunting, with very high stakes. At the same time, he said the best outcome could be highly positive, allowing AI to accelerate medical discoveries, strengthen health and cybersecurity, increase productivity, give people more free time, and support human progress.Kaplan studied at Stanford and Harvard, worked as a physics researcher at Johns Hopkins University and CERN in Switzerland, joined OpenAI in 2019, and later co-founded Anthropic in 2021.Kaplan is not the only one at Anthropic expressing concerns. Co-founder Jack Clark said he felt both hopeful and deeply worried about AI, describing it as something far more unpredictable than a normal machine. Kaplan believes AI can stay aligned with human interests while it remains at or below human intelligence, but he fears what may happen once it becomes smarter. He warns that a smarter AI could help create an even more advanced system, leading to a process whose outcome is unclear and potentially dangerous. There are also doubts about AI’s economic benefits, with critics pointing to low-quality AI output that reduces productivity. However, AI has shown strong results in computer coding, highlighted by Anthropic’s Claude Sonnet 4.5, which can build agents and use computers autonomously. This doubles a programmer’s speed. But it turned out Chinese hackers were using it to commit cyberattacks. Kaplan says allowing AIs to self-improve carries the risks of losing control and of misuse, especially as AI capabilities double every seven months faster than society can adapt.