End Times

A.I. Is the Cause Of — And Solution To — the End of the World

The development of artificial general intelligence offers tremendous benefits and terrible risks

Illustration: Jon Han

Asteroids, supervolcanoes, nuclear war, climate change, engineered viruses, artificial intelligence, and even aliens — the end may be closer than you think. For the next two weeks, OneZero will be featuring essays drawn from editor Bryan Walsh’s forthcoming book End Times: A Brief Guide to the End of the World, which hits shelves on August 27 and is available for pre-order now, as well as pieces by other experts in the burgeoning field of existential risk. But we’re not helpless. It’s up to us to postpone the apocalypse.

There is no easy definition for artificial intelligence, or A.I. Scientists can’t agree on what constitutes “true A.I.” versus what might simply be a very effective and fast computer program. But here’s a shot: intelligence is the ability to perceive one’s environment accurately and take actions that maximize the probability of achieving given objectives. It doesn’t mean being smart, in a sense of having a great store of knowledge, or the ability to do complex mathematics.

My toddler son doesn’t know that one plus one equals two, and when I was writing my book End Times his…