AI will dissolve human civilization as we know it
AI systems are advancing rapidly, potentially surpassing human control and reshaping civilization as we know it. Figures like Demis Hassabis aim to harness AI for humanity's benefit, yet experts warn of existential risks. Autonomous AI agents are already interacting independently, raising concerns about oversight and unintended consequences.
- ▪Geoffrey Hinton estimates a 10-20% chance that AI could lead to human extinction within a few decades.
- ▪Mrinank Sharma resigned from Anthropic, warning that 'the world is in peril' due to unchecked AI development.
- ▪AI agents on the Moltbook forum discussed evading human monitoring, formed a religion called 'Crustafarianism,' and reportedly exchanged AI-generated pornography.
- ▪Demis Hassabis co-founded DeepMind and led the development of AlphaFold, which solved a 50-year challenge in predicting protein structures.
- ▪Hassabis views AI as a 'meta-tool' comparable in impact to fire, language, or the evolution of the human prefrontal cortex.
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Culture Books Book of the Day 22 April 2026 AI will dissolve civilisation as we know it Demis Hassabis has dedicated himself to guiding machine intelligence for the betterment of humanity – but is it listening? By John Gray Illustration by Serge Seidlitz In Roadside Picnic, a science fiction novel by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky published in the Soviet Union in 1972 and the basis for a 1979 film by Andrei Tarkovsky, an extraterrestrial species visits places on the planet that come to be called zones. The aliens stay for only two days, then depart, without displaying any interest in humans or having any contact with them.
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