Dónal and Ciarán discuss the ways - both real and imagined in fiction - that AI could bring about civilization-ending doom for us all. What can we learn from how sci-fi has treated this topic? What are the distant and nearer potential dooms, and what can we do now, apart from saying thanks to ChatGPT? Oh, and note that listening to this episode may drastically affect your life and cause a future powerful AI to punish you in a psychic prison!

Topics in this episode

• What is p(Doom) and why are we hearing about it from AI researchers and investors?
• How has AI doom been dealt with in Sci-fi and can this teach us anything useful?
• What is Dead Internet Theory and why might AI contribute to the Enshitification of the internet?
• Why has the religious concept of Paschal's Wager found a new form in AI discussions that started on internet forums?

Resources & Links

• More on the history of p(Doom) on wikipedia here.
• An interesting article on Dead Internet Theory & AI Walter, Y. Artificial influencers and the dead internet theory. AI & Society (2024).
• Read about Roko's Basilisk (if you dare)
• More on Roko's Basilisk on the LessWrong forum where the though experiment emerged in 2009

You can get in touch with us - [email protected] - where we'd love to hear your questions, comments or suggestions!