New Wave of AI Doomsday Stories Are About More Than Humanity’s Fate

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TOP STORY

WILL AI ‘KILL US ALL’?

This week several experts, including a senior employee at Anthropic, have all concluded that AI could very well have a far more negative impact on humanity than most of us hope — and that it could even “kill us all.” That notion understandably surprised, rattled, and/or intrigued many of our newsletter authors today.

While announcing his resignation from Anthropic, Jacob Coxon wrote, “The people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade. This is not a marketing stunt. If anything, many executives and senior researchers will couch their phrasing in the press to sound sensible – but I hear the same people express fear privately.” Anthropic’s Evan Hubinger added, “Jacob is correct here—we really do earnestly believe AI could kill all humans! I personally think it is >10% within the next decade.”

And yet while plenty of attention has been paid to that dire warning, there are also still plenty of parts of the AI conversation that most of us aren’t paying enough attention to.

THREE TAKES

The Washington Sun, Evan McMorris-Santoro, Jasmine Wright, and Manuela Silva — The Sun spoke to Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA), who admitted the topic certainly has the attention of lawmakers. “Anytime you have folks talking about AI moving towards extinction of human life, I think that’s got to rise to the top of priorities for us in Congress,” Garcia said. But, The Sun also noted, Garcia and his Capitol Hill Cohorts may not be able to do much — especially if the chips don’t fall their way in November. They added, “He promised to investigate AI companies if Democrats win the majority.” For others, such as known AI skeptic Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT), the conversation about human imperilment at the hands of our robot overlords is simply an “opportunity for an ‘I told you so.’” Sanders will be hosting a private meeting with fellow senators to discuss the “extraordinary dangers that AI poses for humanity” this week.

The Free Press — The Free Press shared an article by Daniel Kokotajlo, who resigned from his job as a researcher at OpenAI in 2024, and didn’t mince words while introducing it. “The stakes of the fast-moving debate over the pros and cons of artificial intelligence are almost too high to fathom,” the newsletter reads. It’s also difficult for most of us to really distill which parts of the conversation we should be concerned about. “The tricky thing about this debate isn’t just that it can get pretty technical pretty quickly,” the authors continued. “It’s that the news is full of doomsday warnings. It’s next to impossible to know which to tune out, and which to take seriously.” For Kokotajlo, it’s become clear we have collectively “arrived at” the moment in “many science-fiction movies when a scientist tries to warn everyone that some monster or pathogen is about to break containment” — and it’s our job not to ignore it.

CJR’s The Media Today, Emily Goligoski, Marisa Mazria Katz, and Jake Charles Rees — There are other elements we should pay more attention to right now, too, Goligoski, Katz, and Reese insisted today. They spoke to a collection of experts about how AI is “transforming the work of visual forensics,” and, as a result, how visual investigations will be carried out. Such investigations have typically been carried out by “independent organizations including Storyful, SITU Research, Forensic Architecture, Bellingcat, Airwars, and Syrian Archive” and major media outlets have also constructed their own teams tasked with such assignments. But “in recent years their work has been complicated by myriad concerns, chief among them the changing nature of conflict and the evolution of technology,” which was on full display in October 2023 when videos that “reported inaccurate information or published inconclusive findings” after the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital complex bombing in Gaza hit the internet. The concern is experts are increasingly not sure how to “prove to people that something is real.”

TAKEAWAY:Per our authors, as it stands now it seems concern should be two-fold: on the immediate threats to either ourselves or our work, and to the not-quite-as-immediate-but-still-pretty-scary threats to our actual lives. After all, the end of the decade isn’t too far away, and Coxon’s suggestion AI could have decimated us by then is understandably scary. The end-of-the-world stories will surely get the lion’s share of the attention. But for now, the best thing any of can do is to pay attention to the stories that may not get the most clicks but that illustrate how AI is already reshaping parts of how our lives and jobs function. Oh, and it probably couldn’t hurt to maybe play nice with our agentic friends in the meantime.

📰 TOP SCOOPS & ANALYSIS 📰

SCOOP 🍨 POLITICO Playbook, Dasha Burns, Adam Wren, and Will Steakin —Vice President JD Vance is set to address attendees at the GOP’s midterm convention in Dallas today, and Playbook insisted today he has “more at stake than any other Republican — and even more to gain if he can keep them all together once the bright lights dim.” He’s also pulling in more than $2 million for the party today. A White House told Playbook, “Vance is smart to be laser focused on the midterm elections. He has proven to be one of the most prolific fundraisers the GOP has. It is pretty clear that if he runs for president in ’28, he will be the nominee.” His “increased media appearances” have also helped, and apparently even President Donald Trump is “privately changing his tone when talking about Vance in recent months, saying he’ll be the nominee.”

SCOOP 🍨 Page Six Hollywood, Ian Mohr —Page Six’s Peter Kiefer spoke to a “knowledgeable source” who explained exactly how A24 kept the studio’s upcoming Elizabeth Holmes documentary so locked down: “We weren’t allowed to talk about it, and there was a ton of intrigue surrounding it.” The doc was also made for less than $8 million, which seems to bode well for the potential of returns. “A24 reportedly gave Fielder and collaborator Lance Oppenheim the go-ahead to pursue the film even if nothing came of it and it was never seen,” Kiefer also reported. But this is disappointing, the source also said, because A24 “shut down their in-house documentary arm, laying off their entire team last year.” They explained, “The biggest irony in all of this is that they shuttered their documentary division saying docs are no longer commercially viable, and yet they may end up with this surprise theatrical hit which is going to be in the awards conversation.”

SCOOP 🍨 The Washington Sun, Evan McMorris-Santoro, Jasmine Wright, and Manuela Silva — We know the GOP midterm convention is well underway, but who are the people attending Trumpapalooza? “This is a strange event at a strange time,” The Sun pointed out. Well, by and large, attendees are “not young people.” Sen. Scott Martin (PA-R), told The Sun, “I think what you find, there’s a lot of people who have been delegates or alternate delegates in the past that are here today. People who come here are paying their way, you know, on their flight costs, on their hotel — it’s not a freebie for them.”

ANALYSIS 👀 Punchbowl News AM — Culture wars have been a pretty present theme throughout this year’s election cycle, and that’s certainly true in Texas, Punchbowl noted today. GOP candidates have emphasized “a focus on painting Democrats as out of touch with Latino voters on cultural issues,” including “attacking traditional values.” They’ve also accused Rep. James Talarico (D-TX) of “pushing six genders.” As Tano Tijerina put it, “Hispanic voters are independent voters. We don’t want anybody that’s going to be putting boys in girls’ sports and things like that.” But that doesn’t mean it’s working. Punchbowl added, “Democrats are skeptical that Republicans can win these competitive elections given Trump’s immigration enforcement policies.”

ANALYSIS 👀 The Bulwark’s Morning Shots, Bill Kristol and Andrew Egger — Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin “made a number of assertions about immigration law and enforcement that did not withstand much scrutiny,” in Ohio last week, Jim Swift wrote. Swift was “a little surprised that agency officials would come to Ohio so close after the suicide of Pierre Damas Bel,” and was “disgusted, but not surprised” that Mullin told reporters “We’re not responsible” for Bel’s death. Per the Ohio Immigrant Alliance, which put together a 12-page fact check, that’s “outright wrong.” As Swift put it, “If his statements about Bel’s suicide had a tenuous connection to reality, his grasp of the policy rationale he was selling had none whatsoever.”

ANALYSIS 👀 The Poynter Report, Tom Jones — Jeff Bezos is happy with the leadership at The Washington Post, Jones wrote today. Jeff D’Onofrio has been working in the role of publisher and CEO “for a while now,” and Bezos’ decision to make things official indicates he feels good about the direction the newspaper is heading in. A Post spokesperson also said this year that the newspaper is “on track to break even this year” and that 2026 has had it on “its closest path to profitability in five years.” Jones wryly noted, “Of course, when you cut a big chunk of the staff, the chances of saving money improve dramatically.”

📈BUSINESS OF MEDIA 🎥

ADWEEK Daily, Mark Ritson — Following Publicis Groupe landing PepsiCo’s media business while still servicing Coca-Cola’s North American account, Publicis ultimately withdrew from Coca-Cola’s global brief. Columnist Mark Ritson points out that agency client conflicts are increasingly a historical hang-up rather than a strategic necessity, questioning whether brands in today’s complex media landscape should still be able to block holding companies from taking on competing business. QUOTE 📣 “Our columnist Mark Ritson thinks agencies may be the only businesses still taking client conflict quite so seriously…”

The Ankler’s The Wakeup, Sean McNulty — Summer 2026 reached a new domestic box office record of $4.765 billion, surpassing 2013’s previous high-water mark by 26% year-over-year. Still, keep in mind that total was pretty skewed by a longer summer window, ticket price inflation, and massive premium IMAX runs for top-heavy blockbusters like Spider-Man: Brand New Day ($924M domestic) and The Odyssey ($500M+ domestic), which all masked a steeper falloff for mid-range releases. QUOTE 📣 “Summer 2026 was also +9% over summer 2019 — but S&P’s INTELLIGENCE arm puts summer 2026’s actual admissions / ticket sales -248M vs. 2019, or -30%. So again — inflation and a greatly increased PLF/IMAX business are playing a large role in the box office’s financial turnaround.”

Barrett Media, John Mamola — Legendary ESPN hockey analyst and former NHL head coach Barry Melrose died at age 70 following a battle with Parkinson’s disease and a number of the newsletters memorialized him, but Barrett was particularly thorough. Melrose signed on with ESPN in 1996 and served as the network’s lead hockey voice for nearly three decades, using his signature mullet, suit style, and deep game insight to define NHL television coverage for American audiences.  QUOTE 📣 “Melrose’s death closes a defining chapter for ESPN’s hockey coverage, where his mullet, goatee and flashy suits became fan favorites… Consequently, his absence leaves a distinct personality void heading into this season’s NHL coverage.”

Barrett Media, John Mamola — Sports betting network VSiN is expanding its live broadcast slate for Thursday Night Football by bringing on former NFL star Keyshawn Johnson. Johnson will join host Patrick Meagher as a betting analyst for a dedicated live “BetCast” program, illustrating how sports networks continue to integrate real-time wagering analysis directly into game-day broadcasting. QUOTE 📣 “SiN continues betting on star power to reach bettors. Johnson’s playing pedigree, paired with his broadcasting resume, gives the show instant credibility. Also, a live co-viewing option for football fans in real time is always a plus. Considering the success of altcasts driving additional viewership. For VSiN, it’s another step toward reenforcing itself as sports betting’s go-to network.”

OTHER COOL STUFF

Page Six Hollywood — A24 kept its $8 million Nathan Fielder doc on Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes (You Can See Everything) so tightly locked down during its three-year development that even the distributor’s own eight-person in-house documentary staff was completely in the dark until its instantly-infamous surprise Telluride premiere.

Morning Brew — Rising 24-year-old country-pop singer Stella Lefty is facing intense online “industry plant” accusations and plagiarism claims over her viral hit single “Boston”—criticism that exploded after social media users discovered her father is the billionaire co-founder of Groupon.

👀 WHAT GOT MISSED? 👀

POLITICO Playbook, Dasha Burns, Adam Wren, and Will Steakin — The one-year anniversary of Charlie Kirk’s assassination will get a ton of attention today, but you may not read quite as much about the man who is quietly becoming a major player in his movement. Blake Neff is the “new face”of the late Charlie Kirk’s show, despite having emerged “as an unlikely, Forrest Gump-ian avatar of the MAGA movement.” But that’s like because his “brand of extremely online far-right politics — anti-immigrant, anti-woke, anti-GOP-establishment — has gone mainstream among Republicans.” But despite that, he “has also become the subject of that same world’s conspiracy theories surrounding Kirk’s death, making him an unlikely figure of … some new establishment.”

🏆 NEWSLETTER OF THE DAY 🏆

The Washington Sun, Evan McMorris-Santoro, Jasmine Wright, and Manuela Silva — The Sun offered a bounty of useful and important information today, from their Trumpapalooza attendees breakdown to continued and justified skepticism of Sen. John Fetterman’s (D-PA) motivations to the challenges Democratic candidates are facing down ahead of the midterms (their peek into the potential campaign problems Troy Jackson may face in May is a worthy read). And the timing couldn’t have been better for the Sun to put out a great newsletter — just days after its rebrand from the publication previously known as NOTUS.

This newsletter was produced by Lindsey Ellefson.