In a statement, industry leaders and experts stressed that addressing risks from AI must be a "global priority, alongside other risks such as pandemics and nuclear war," according to AFP. The statement was signed by dozens of experts, including Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, the company that created the ChatGPT platform.

ChatGPT rose to fame late last year with its ability to generate essays, poems, and chat from the briefest of prompts. The ChatGPT craze has attracted billions of dollars in investment in the AI ​​field.

However, industry experts have sounded the alarm about everything from biased AI algorithms to the risk of mass job losses as AI-powered automation infiltrates people's daily lives.

The latest statement, posted on the website of the Center for AI Safety (a US-based non-profit organization), does not provide any details about the potential existential threat posed by AI.

Meanwhile, some of the signatories, including Mr. Geoffrey Hinton, who created some of the foundational technologies for AI systems and is known as the father of the industry, have issued similar warnings in the past.

Their biggest worry is the idea of ​​so-called artificial general intelligence (AGI), a concept that refers to the point where machines are capable of performing many of the same functions as humans and can develop their own programs.

The worrying thing is that humans will no longer be able to control AI, a situation that experts have warned could have disastrous consequences for humanity.

Dozens of experts from companies including Google and Microsoft signed the statement, which comes two months after billionaire Elon Musk and others called for a pause in the development of AI technology until it can be proven safe, according to AFP.