Well, if the summary is correct, he also thinks that a coin has consciousness, which is far worse than not endorsing MIRI research program and far more concerning about a person who works on AI.
Argument from incredulity? Really?
It's a genuine philosophical position, and one with a long tradition in the reductionist philosophy of mind. If you don't believe that a coin (or to use the more typical example, a thermostat) can have epsilon consciousness, then where do you draw the line? What does a conscious system have to have that, if you were to take it away the system would suddenly become inert and without a subjective experience of existence?
Positing that all things - all! - are conscious to varying degrees dependent on their informational complexity and structural pattern is an attempt to dissolve the mysterious question of what grants us awareness in the first place.
http://www.3quarksdaily.com/3quarksdaily/2013/11/singularity-or-bust-.html
I've never heard of this before, and have only watched 7 minutes so far, but I'd imagine many people here would be interested in this video.