Elon Musk: In July 2017, he famously warned the National Governors Association that AI is a "fundamental risk to the existence of human civilization" and called for proactive government regulation before "robots start killing people." Later that year, he tweeted that competition for national AI superiority would be the most likely cause of World War III.

Stephen Hawking: Throughout 2017, the renowned physicist warned that AI could be the "worst event in the history of our civilization," noting that it could replace humans entirely if a runaway intelligence explosion occurred. CNBC +4