We are all responsible for preparing

Instead of trying to predict when AI companies will publicly announce they’ve achieved AGI, we should imagine that AGI already exists and plan accordingly to avoid being caught by surprise.

Chances are that a basic form of AGI has already been created and kept secret, while resources are being allocated to harvest and control its benefits.

If the COVID pandemic was a dress rehearsal for a future AI pandemic, we now know we can no longer blindly trust that our experts, corporations, or governments will have the wisdom and courage to properly safeguard us from AI’s repercussions. We must all share that responsibility.

Society only takes threats seriously once they are understood. AI legislation will only be developed when these dangers are clear to everyone. Therefore, it is everyone's responsibility to accelerate AI literacy across the population.

How can we work together to design a proportional response to a civilizational lift-off, akin to a meteorite impact or an alien landing? History provides the answer: fifty years ago, our scientists successfully planned the safe landing of humans on the surface of the moon. Today, we are fully capable of planning how to safely land the arrival of AGI on Earth. And as John F. Kennedy said: “We will do it not because it’s easy, but because it’s hard.”