Rapid advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) have sparked growing concerns among experts, policymakers, and world leaders regarding the potential for increasingly advanced AI systems to pose catastrophic risks. Although numerous risks have been detailed separately, there is a pressing need for a systematic discussion and illustration of the potential dangers to better inform efforts to mitigate them. This paper provides an overview of the main sources of catastrophic AI risks, which we organize into four categories: malicious use, in which individuals or groups intentionally use AIs to cause harm; AI race, in which competitive environments compel actors to deploy unsafe AIs or cede control to AIs; organizational risks, highlighting how human factors and complex systems can increase the chances of catastrophic accidents; and rogue AIs, describing the inherent difficulty in controlling agents far more intelligent than humans. For each category of risk, we describe specific hazards, present illustrative stories, envision ideal scenarios, and propose practical suggestions for mitigating these dangers. Our goal is to foster a comprehensive understanding of these risks and inspire collective and proactive efforts to ensure that AIs are developed and deployed in a safe manner. Ultimately, we hope this will allow us to realize the benefits of this powerful technology while minimizing the potential for catastrophic outcomes.

翻译：人工智能（AI）的快速发展引发了专家、政策制定者和世界领导人对日益先进的AI系统可能带来灾难性风险的日益关注。尽管多种风险已被分别详述，但仍有必要对这些潜在危险进行系统性讨论和阐释，以更好地推动缓解措施。本文概述了灾难性AI风险的主要来源，并将其分为四类：恶意使用——个人或团体故意利用AI造成伤害；AI竞赛——竞争环境迫使各方部署不安全的AI或将控制权交给AI；组织风险——强调人为因素和复杂系统如何增加灾难性事故的可能性；失控AI——描述了控制远超人类智能体所固有的困难。针对每类风险，我们描述了具体危害，提供了说明性故事，设想理想场景，并提出缓解这些危险的实用建议。我们的目标是促进对这些风险的全面理解，并激发集体主动行动，确保AI以安全方式开发与部署。最终，我们希望在最大化这一强大技术裨益的同时，尽可能减少灾难性后果的发生。