Superintelligent AI: Why we need to shut it down NOW before it's too late

Friday, 24 April 2026 - 10:00am to 10:30am

Jennifer and Jacques return to the topic of Artificial Intelligence, this time focussing on the pressing dangers of Superintelligent AI, which is self-organising and self-directing and not within the understanding and control of any humans.

They refer to a recent book by experts in the field, Eliezer Yudkowsky and Nate Soares. with the self-explanatory title: If anyone builds it, everyone dies: The case against superintelligent AI. The authors urge for it to be shut down before it is too late.
And Karen Hao's Empire of AI describes poignantly the story of OpenAI and how it developed from a 'not-for-profit' set of values to a determined contributor to the small group of trillionaire capitalists threatening to dominate our lives and thoughts.

References

Karen Hao 2025, Empire of AI: Inside the reckless race for total domination. London: Allen Lane.

Eliezer Yudkowsky and Nate Soares 2025, If anyone builds it, everyone dies: The case against superintelligent AI. 
London: The Bodley Head/Vintage

Friday 10:00am to 10:30am
Think Again offers weekly conversations and reflections about current events, trends and public pronouncements on contemporary and emerging issues. The show moves beyond what we read and hear via the public and ‘social’ media, to invite alternative possibilities to guide our thinking, living and organising.

Presenter

Jennifer Borrell & Jacques Boulet

Topic