Ex-DeepMind staffer says lab banned talk of AI extinction risk

A former Google DeepMind spokesperson, Vishal Maini, says the company did not permit employees to publicly discuss the possibility of AI-driven human extinction, even as internal teams acknowledged alignment problems remained unsolved.

Why it matters: This adds a named, concrete account to a recurring pattern of insiders describing labs discouraging open discussion of existential risk, echoing this week's Anthropic safety researcher resignation over a 'reckless AI race.' It suggests corporate communications strategy, not just scientific consensus, has shaped how much of the AI safety debate reaches the public.