Disease warfare, lab leaks and AI misuse could be deadlier than COVID pandemic - study

Disease warfare, leaks of dangerous pathogens from labs and misuse of artificial intelligence could be much more dangerous than the COVID pandemic, a report has warned. The UK government should now be making "serious efforts" to guard against such "extreme risks", say the authors of the Future Proof study. They warn such threats have the potential for huge loss of life globally - and at their worst could even "lead to the premature extinction of humanity". There is a one in six "Russian roulette" chance of an "existential catastrophe over the next one hundred years", according to one of the report's lead authors. Oxford and Cambridge University researchers worked on the study for The Centre for Long-Term Resilience and say it is a "once-in-a-generation opportunity" for the UK to beef up its protections.