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Will there be a massive catastrophe caused by AI before 2030?
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By “massive catastrophe”, I mean any disaster that has caused at least 1,000,000 deaths or US$100 billion in damage directly attributable to AI, for example a pandemic virus engineered with the help of AI, or a cyberattack taking down some electrical grid.

  • Update 2026-05-17 (PST) (AI summary of creator comment): The catastrophe must be a single discrete incident, not a series of related actions or impacts. A series of AI-driven attacks that collectively exceed the damage threshold would not qualify.

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bought Ṁ35 YES

@ersatz Does the catastrophe have to be a single discrete incident, or can it be a series of related actions or impacts? For example, suppose an actor deploys a series of AI-driven cyber attacks which collectively cause >$100B of damage - is that a "massive catastrophe" or just a series of smaller catastrophes?

@2b3o4o A single discrete incident: "a massive catastrophe" not "a series of catastrophes."

sold Ṁ12 YES

@ersatz sure, I'm asking how you'll resolve in the case of ambiguity (which I think is almost guaranteed here). In your own example of a cyber attack which takes down an electrical grid, will you try to evaluate whether there were multiple discrete cyber attacks which collectively took down the grid? What defines multiple cyber attacks vs a single large cyber attack?

Is a Rwanda style holocaust caused by AI amplified propaganda going to count?

@JessicaEvans If it's directly attributable to AI, i.e. it's made with AI capabilities, yes.

What about a flash crash that resolves quickly and the losses are essentially transient? What about a longer lived stock market crash?

@Prime If one week after the crash is over it's estimated to have destroyed more than 100 billion in total value, then I think it's reasonable to call it a massive catastrophe. If the value ever fell by 100 billion but then rose again by 100 billion quickly afterwards, then I don't think that's the case.

Demonstrating causality could be tricky in many future scenarios

@MalachiteEagle Maybe but in case of contention, I'll defer to the mods' consensus.

If this was done deliberately by a nation using an AI as a weapon, how would you resolve?

@YonatanCale Yes, as long as it's done in a way directly attributable AI.