The Madness of the Race to Build Artificial General Intelligence

The people plunging us all toward AGI are saying some very scary things. We’d be wise to pay them heed.

A few weeks ago, I was having a chat with my neighbor Tom, an amateur chemist who conducts experiments in his apartment. I have a longtime fascination with chemistry, and always enjoy talking with him. But this conversation was scary. If his latest experiment was successful, he informed me, it might “have some part to play in curing cancer.” If it was a failure, however, there was a reasonable chance, according to his calculations, that the experiment would trigger “an explosion that levels the entire apartment complex.”

Perhaps Tom was lying, or maybe he’s delusional. But what if he really was just one test tube clink away from blowing me and dozens of our fellow building residents sky high? What should one do in this situation? After a brief deliberation, I decided to call 911. The police rushed over, searched his apartment and decided after an investigation to confiscate all of his chemistry equipment and bring him in for questioning.