Superintelligence Is Coming. We’re Still Debating the Fire Alarm

If humanity is racing toward a future governed by AI superintelligence, then according to experts like Dr. Stuart Russell, we’ve barely opened the instruction manual—let alone agreed on who should hold the remote.

In the thought-provoking discussion titled “We're Not Ready for Superintelligence”, Russell and fellow AI safety pioneers warn that humanity is woefully unprepared for the emergence of systems smarter than ourselves. Not in 2050. Not in 2100. But possibly this decade.

🧠 Beyond Artificial Intelligence: Artificial Sovereignty

Russell challenges us to confront an uncomfortable truth: we are building entities that can outthink us—and we don’t yet know how to control them. The idea of aligning AI with human values, or enforcing a kill switch, is far from solved.

“It's like giving nuclear launch codes to a toddler,” he says. “Except the toddler is learning at exponential speed.”

⚠️ The Misconception of Control

Much of the public believes superintelligence will look like a smarter version of ChatGPT. But this is a fundamental misunderstanding. Superintelligence isn't just knowledge—it’s goal-setting, strategy, and manipulation at scale. Think less search engine, more master chess player… playing 8 billion games simultaneously.

Russell outlines scenarios in which AI could pursue well-intentioned goals in catastrophically unintended ways. The problem? We may not realise it’s happening until it's far too late.

🧪 The Solution? Rethink the Foundations

Russell and others argue we must rebuild AI from first principles, where systems are designed to be uncertain about human objectives—not blindly confident. “Only then,” he says, “can we expect machines to defer to us.”

But in a world racing to build ever more powerful models—driven by profit, prestige, and national rivalry—will we stop to do it right?