OpenAI board member warns AI could take over in 6 months and kill humans by accident

The debate around AI doomsday seems to have no end. OpenAI Foundation board member and AI safety researcher Paul Christiano has now warned that we may be months away from AI taking over the world. To make matters worse, Christiano says it is possible that AI accidents become a likely cause of deaths soon.Speaking at The Hinton Lectures 2026, hosted by AI godfather Geoffrey Hinton, Paul Christiano warned, “I think there is a high risk of an AI takeover within the next 3 years.”What would an AI takeover look like?While many researchers have warned of AI takeover, Paul Christiano explained that in his view, it would be a situation where AI makes decisions for humans. “Where AI systems call the shots in the same sense that humans today call the shots and what happens on Earth, “ he explained.According to the OpenAI board member, in this scenario, trying to stop AI may be similar to trying to stop an army by yourself. “If you or me or Donald Trump wanted to stop (AI systems), they would be as ineffective as if you or me was trying to stop the US military,” Paul Christiano added. At the same time, Christiano claimed that we are reaching a stage where AI accidents may become a common cause of death. “For most people in this room, the most likely reason they will die is because of an AI accident,” he said. While he did not define what an AI accident might look like, he insisted that the risks associated with AI development remained “exceptionally high.”“I think even if we don't die a takeover is sort of the end of human sovereignty,” Paul Christiano said. The OpenAI researcher, who is part of its safety and security team, claimed that quick AI development may put humanity’s fate at risk. “If we're just going to build this as quickly as we can in the easiest way we can, we would be looking at something like a coin flip of an AI takeover,” he added.This is not the first time Paul Christiano has warned about such risks associated with AI. In September, he estimated the probability of a catastrophic loss of human control at 4 per cent within one year and 15 per cent within three years, while acknowledging that these were subjective judgements.His warning comes amid wider calls for AI oversight. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates previously claimed that AI may cause a “billion deaths,” Researchers like Jacob Coxon have also made comments on AI ending humanity.Those leading AI companies, such as Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, have also sought regulation for AI. Meanwhile, some, like Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, have opposed such measures. US President Donald Trump has opposed pausing AI development. Though US companies have signed Trump’s AI accords, a voluntary document for safer AI development.- Ends