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Humanity isn’t ready for the coming intelligence explosion

We must find a way to steward AI, then to live side by side with it

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    • Civilisations generally build powerful technologies faster than they develop the capacity to govern them wisely, says the writer.
    • Civilisations generally build powerful technologies faster than they develop the capacity to govern them wisely, says the writer. ILLUSTRATION: PIXABAY

    Will Marshall

    Published Wed, Jun 17, 2026 · 07:30 AM

    SOCIETY dictates that the acceptable risk of a catastrophic meltdown for a nuclear power plant is roughly one in a million. Experts in artificial intelligence estimate the risk of an AI-caused catastrophic event at 10 to 50 per cent.

    Strikingly, this concern is being openly voiced by the very people who have the strongest incentives to project confidence rather than alarm: the founders of the largest AI laboratories.

    AI leaders are in a race they feel unable to escape. AI investments are set to outspend the Manhattan Project a hundredfold, even adjusting for inflation. Yet, spending on AI safety might be 100 times less.

    Artificial IntelligenceSocietyAI governanceTechnology

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