As AI advances, doomers warn the superintelligence apocalypse is nigh

By Martin Kaste

Published September 24, 2025 at 3:21 PM CDT

The Anthropic website on a laptop arranged in New Hyde Park, New York, on Aug. 22. Anthropic is one of the leading artificial intelligence companies. The company's CEO was among those that signed a public statement in 2023 acknowledging the "risk of extinction from AI."

Nate Soares, co-author of the book If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies, says time is running out to stop a superhuman AI from wiping out humanity. — Nate Soares, co-author of the book *If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies*, says time is running out to stop a superhuman AI from wiping out humanity.

What happens when we make an artificial intelligence that's smarter than us? that moment will mean .

Now that AI is rapidly advancing, some "AI Doomers" say it's. They say the machine learning revolution that led to everyday AI models such as ChatGPT has also made it harder to figure out how to "align" artificial intelligence with our interests 鈥� namely, keeping AI from outsmarting humans. Researchers into AI safety say there's a chance that such a superhuman intelligence would act quickly to wipe us out.

NPR's Martin Kaste reports on the tensions in Silicon Valley over AI safety.

For a more detailed discussion on the arguments for 鈥� and against 鈥� AI doom, please listen to this special episode of NPR Explains:

And for the truly curious, a reading list:

. Research from METR

鈥� from experts about the near-term likelihood of human- or superhuman-level artificial intelligence