Humanity isn’t ready for the coming intelligence explosion

The Wayback Machine - http://web.archive.org/web/20260616041522/https://www.economist.com/by-invitation/2026/06/15/humanity-isnt-ready-for-the-coming-intelligence-explosionSubscribeThe Economist ProLog inSkip to contentSubscribeThe Economist ProLog inWeekly editionWorld in briefUnited StatesChinaBusinessFinance & economicsEuropeAsiaMiddle EastAmericasArtificial intelligenceCultureCartoons & gamesundefined undefinedSubscribe to The EconomistUnlock unlimited access to all our award-winning journalism, subscriber-only podcasts and newslettersSubscribe to The EconomistUnlock unlimited access to all our award-winning journalism, subscriber-only podcasts and newslettersSubscribeManage accountGift subscriptionsLog outManage accountGift subscriptionsLog outBy Invitation | What would Fermi do?We must find a way to control AI, then to live side by side with it, writes Will MarshallIllustration: Dan Williams Jun 15th 2026|6 min readSOCIETY DICTATES that the acceptable risk of catastrophic meltdown for a nuclear power plant is roughly one in a million. Experts in artificial intelligence estimate the risk of an AI-caused catastrophic event at 10-50%. Strikingly, this concern is being openly voiced by the very people who have the strongest incentives to project confidence rather than alarm: the founders of the largest AI laboratories.Reuse this contentMore from By InvitationColombia is dangerously close to mistaking aggression for leadershipThe winner of the run-off must rebuild what this election campaign has broken, writes Juan Manuel Santos, a former presidentSilicon Valley needs to get GodTech must reorient towards moral purpose for it—and humankind—to flourish, argues Glen WeylThis may just be the last World CupAmerica’s bellicosity combined with FIFA’s dysfunctionality spells trouble, reckon the Soccernomics podcastersAgainst Russia, Europe needs a peace-through-strength strategyTalk of an envoy for negotiations is premature, writes Anders Fogh RasmussenWhy the World Cup produces an ugly version of the beautiful gameFIFA could emulate other sports by tweaking rules to generate more excitement, writes James TozerReaganomics brought growth we can only dream of todayThe benefits did not just “trickle down”—they poured, writes Arthur Laffer