Home › Books › If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies: Why Superhuma…
If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies: Why Superhuman AI Would Kill Us All
by
4/99
Critics' Rating Index
52/99
Readers' Rating Index
98/99
Scholars' Citation Index
84/99
Volume of Reviews
95/99
Volume of Reader Ratings
Sign in to add to your shelf, rate, or review this book.
About This Book
"May prove to be the most important book of our time."—Tim Urban, Wait But WhyThe scramble to create superhuman AI has put us on the path to extinction—but it's not too late to change course, as two of the field's earliest researchers explain in this clarion call for humanity. In 2023, hundreds of AI luminaries signed an open letter warning that artificial intelligence poses a serious risk of human extinction. Since then, the AI race has only intensified. Companies and countries are rushing to build machines that will be smarter than any person. And the world is devastatingly unprepared for what would come next. For decades, two signatories of that letter—Eliezer Yudkowsky and Nate Soares—have studied how smarter-than-human intelligences will think, behave, and pursue their objectives. Their research says that sufficiently smart AIs will develop goals of their own that put them in conflict with us—and that if it comes to conflict, an artificial superintelligence would crush us. The contest wouldn't even be close. How could a machine superintelligence wipe out our entire species? Why would it want to? Would it want anything at all? In this urgent book, Yudkowsky and Soares walk through the theory and the evidence, present one possible extinction scenario, and explain what it would take for humanity to survive. The world is racing to build something truly new under the sun. And if anyone builds it, everyone dies."The best no-nonsense, simple explanation of the AI risk problem I've ever read."—Yishan Wong, Former CEO of Reddit
Reviews
"A timely and terrifying education on the galloping havoc AI could unleash—unless we grasp the reins and take control."
"Yudkowsky and Soares don't particularly care."
"Given the gravity of the case they make, it feels an odd thing to say that this book is good."
"The book reads like a Scientology manual, the text interspersed with weird, unhelpful parables and extra notes available via QR codes ..."
"They also present precious few opposing viewpoints, even though not all experts agree with their dire perspective."
"Where the discussions become more technical, mainly in passages dealing with AI model training and architecture, it's still straightforward enough for readers to grasp the basic facts ..."
"Tendentious and rambling, simultaneously condescending and shallow ..."
"Whether one agrees with its conclusions or not, the book demands serious attention and reflection."
Preview
Reader Reviews
0 reviewsSign in to write a review.
No reader reviews yet. Be the first!