'AI is the devil and I its maker': Dario Amodei gets the SNL treatment

Saturday Night Live took a swing at the AI industry's recent wave of apocalyptic warnings. In its latest episode, cast member Jane Wickline delivered an impression of Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei.

Weekend Update host Michael Che — who himself seemed unsure how to pronounce Amodei's surname — opened the segment by describing the executive as having "stumbled through a press tour." During that tour, Che noted, Amodei appeared to agree with a former employee's claim that artificial intelligence might destroy humanity.

A chat with the dark side

Wickline's take on Amodei sported an impressive wig and offered halting answers that repeatedly slid into Gollum-style exchanges with his own darker half. At one point the character confesses: "AI is the devil and I its maker."

The fictional Amodei assured viewers that AI executives "are all on the same page here: We do not condone what we are doing."

"AI is not a weapon, it's a tool: A tool for building weapons," the character declares. "And I urge you to urge me to stop."

The sketch also touched on the technology's supposed benefits, such as a potential cure for cancer. As the fictional Amodei put it: "In 10 years, there's about a 10% chance that cancer won't be a problem for anyone."

The parody neatly captured the signature cadence of the industry's real statements, where grand promises come wrapped in probabilistic hedging and warnings about risk.

Source: TechCrunch