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LessWrong (Curated & Popular) · Saturday · 17 min

"Some ways AI could kill us all" by Ruby

I don't think this is how it will actually play out. If you play a chess grandmaster, you can predict that they will beat you even if you can't predict how. I chose these examples because I don't think they require much imagination or accepting exotic assumptions. It is important to note that if chimpanzees were to guess how humans would decimate them, they would get it wrong. Chimpanzees would not imagine guns. They would not foresee poison gas. They would not conceive of chemical castration. They would not imagine humans going around and intentionally infecting them with AIDS. They have no concept of these things; they would not see it coming. Perhaps they might guess we'd be really good at throwing rocks. Amazingly good. Well, technically, that's what guns do: throw "rocks" really really well. So how will superintelligent AI actually wipe us all out? Probably in a way I couldn't conceive of. Nonetheless, it's not hard to see how deadly they could be with what we already know about. Method 1: engineer the deadliest and most contagious virus ever seen Coronavirus-19, aka COVID, looms large in the memory of living adults today. It started in December [...] --- Outline: (01:14) Method 1: engineer the deadliest and most contagious virus ever seen [... 8 more sections] --- First published: September 11th, 2026 Source: https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/LAPa2jxoq3n63GzTr/some-ways-ai-could-kill-us-all --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO. --- Images from the article: Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.

0:00-17:56

transcript

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show notes

I don't think this is how it will actually play out. If you play a chess grandmaster, you can predict that they will beat you even if you can't predict how. I chose these examples because I don't think they require much imagination or accepting exotic assumptions.

It is important to note that if chimpanzees were to guess how humans would decimate them, they would get it wrong. Chimpanzees would not imagine guns. They would not foresee poison gas. They would not conceive of chemical castration. They would not imagine humans going around and intentionally infecting them with AIDS. They have no concept of these things; they would not see it coming.

Perhaps they might guess we'd be really good at throwing rocks. Amazingly good. Well, technically, that's what guns do: throw "rocks" really really well.

So how will superintelligent AI actually wipe us all out? Probably in a way I couldn't conceive of. Nonetheless, it's not hard to see how deadly they could be with what we already know about.

Method 1: engineer the deadliest and most contagious virus ever seen

Coronavirus-19, aka COVID, looms large in the memory of living adults today. It started in December [...]

---

Outline:

(01:14) Method 1: engineer the deadliest and most contagious virus ever seen

[... 8 more sections]

---

First published:
September 11th, 2026

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/LAPa2jxoq3n63GzTr/some-ways-ai-could-kill-us-all

---



Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

---

Images from the article:

Dot-and-range charts,
A robotic chemist at the University of Liverpool completed 688 experiments in eight days, handling samples and selecting subsequent experiments based on earlier results. University of Liverpool, 2020. Image source.
Bug fixes also mean bugs found. A malicious AI could exploit these vulnerabilities rather than assist in fixing them.
Drone camera view of parked car near tree, Telegraph video.Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.

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