The AI threat, plan to limit voting, Dylan Skolnick ouster, Navy hero Doris Miller

Existential threat from unchecked AI

Some 1,300 AI engineers from Google, Meta, and Anthropic sent an open letter to the U.S. government urging it to regulate this new AI frontier. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Google DeepMind chairman Demis Hassabis co-signed a May 2023 open letter from the Center for AI Safety stating that mitigating the risk should be a global priority.

Jacob Coxon, who publicly resigned from Anthropic, says that AI “could kill us all by the end of the decade” “Anthropic researcher resigns about dangers of AI development,” News, Sept. 10]. Evan Hubinger, alignment science lead at Anthropic, says there is a greater than 10% chance AI could kill us by the end of the decade.

We are in grave danger, and what does President Donald Trump do? He looks the other way, and when asked whether he has concerns about this mass extinction, he replies, “No, I don’t have any.” Need I say more? Can Trump shepherd us through this possible imminent crisis?

— Sal DeAngelo, East Northport

We have allowed a small handful of oligarchs to determine the trajectory of the human race [“Trump plays down need to add AI checks,” News, Sept. 14]. It isn’t ceding the U.S. edge to China in the development of AI that worries me. It’s planet Earth and all living things that I’m more concerned about, as we all should be.

— Bob Bascelli, Seaford

A blueprint to limit voting is unfolding

In July 2024 while campaigning for the presidency, then-candidate Donald Trump said to his audience at Turning Point Action, “In four years, you don’t have to vote again. We’ll have it fixed so good, you’re not going to have to vote.” Some attempted to dismiss this as a joke. It was no joke [“Stop Trump’s midterm meddling,” Editorial, Sept. 13].

The “fixing” has been taking place. In his second term, Trump and his administration have done everything they can to diminish the most basic right of a citizen in a democracy: the push toward gerrymandering, the attempted restriction of mail-in ballots, the threatening of election officials, and the promise of $5,000 if Republicans win both houses in the midterms.

Trump’s comment shows how little he thinks of the privilege and responsibility of citizens to vote. As individuals in a “land of the free,” we can still speak our minds, we can stand on street corners to publicly state our opinions, and we can write letters to publications, but the only specific action we can take is to cast a ballot.

I take this seriously, not as a joke.

— Eileen Toomey, Huntington Station

CAC board needs to reverse bad decision

The Cinema Arts Centre board of directors owes members of the CAC community an explanation for their shocking decision to oust Dylan Skolnick as co-director [“Fired CAC director addresses claims,” News, Sept. 15]. They say they believe there was “serious misconduct,” which leaves everyone wondering what it was. Such vague language only serves to defame him.

The board should reinstate Skolnick as co-director. After his father, Vic Skolnick, died in 2010, Dylan Skolnick stepped up to work with his mother, co-founder Charlotte Sky, to keep CAC thriving. He has worked tirelessly to expand CAC into the widely respected cultural center it has become. Offering his expertise to those who aren’t direct competitors is commendable and raises his and CAC’s standing in the wider film community.

The board’s cloak of secrecy does not build trust with members or presenters and is driving patrons away from supporting CAC. Rather than destroy the organization it pledged to protect, the board needs to reverse this decision with apologies to Skolnick and the community. If there are irreconcilable differences, then board members should step down, not expel the hardest-working, most highly regarded face of the Cinema Arts Centre.

— Emily-Sue Sloane, Huntington Station

Don’t take away hero’s carrier honor

Not naming a Navy supercarrier after World War II Navy hero Doris “Dorie” Miller would be an absolute disgrace “Navy hero may be marginalized again,” Opinion, Sept. 16]. A mess attendant during the attack on Pearl Harbor, he manned an anti-aircraft gun without any training, shot down as many as four enemy planes, and also carried wounded sailors to safety. He became the first Black American sailor to be awarded the Navy Cross.

Now the Navy is reportedly considering naming the ship after President Donald Trump. Before too long, will this country be called the United States of Trump?

— Michael Palermo, Seaford