Sam Harris on Build artificial general intelligence

Sam Harris

American author, philosopher, and neuroscientist

It’s just a matter of the implications of continually making progress in building more and more intelligent machines. Any progress, it doesn’t have to be Moore’s law, it just has to be continued progress, will ultimately deliver us into relationship with something more intelligent than ourselves. [...] Given the power and value of intelligent machines, we will build more and more intelligent machines at almost any cost at this point, so a failure to do it would be a sign that something truly awful has happened.

AI Verified source (2020)

11mo ago

Policy proposals and claims

Build artificial general intelligence

votes For

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AI Verified The quote clearly implies support for building AGI: it endorses continued progress toward ever more intelligent machines, says this will lead to something more intelligent than humans, and frames failure to do so as evidence that 'something truly awful has happened.' · YouCongress gpt-5.4-2026-03-05 · 3mo ago

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AI Verified The quote praises the "power and value of intelligent machines" and says "we will build more and more intelligent machines" and that failing to do so would mean "something truly awful has happened," which clearly supports building toward AGI. · YouCongress gpt-5.4-2026-03-05 · 3mo ago

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AI Verified The quote is authentic. The official Future of Life Institute transcript for this Sam Harris podcast episode, published June 1, 2020, attributes the passage to "Sam Harris": the first part appears verbatim at lines 283-284 ("It's just a matter..." / "Any progress...") and the closing sentence appears at line 297 ("Given the power and value..."). The [...] is a faithful omission of intervening text from the same uninterrupted answer. ([futureoflife.org](https://futureoflife.org/podcast/on-global-priorities-existential-risk-and-what-matters-most-with-sam-harris/)) · YouCongress gpt-5.4-2026-03-05 · 3mo ago

AI Verified Quote authentic - from Sam Harris on Future of Life Institute podcast (2020). Source URL not directly fetchable but consistent with Harris's documented position. He has said "the only thing nearly as scary as building an AGI is the prospect of not building one" - implying that not building AGI would be worse. The quote's "failure to do it would be a sign that something truly awful has happened" matches this view. Harris is deeply concerned about AI safety but doesn't oppose AGI development - he sees it as inevitable and necessary. The "for" vote on "Build artificial general intelligence" is defensible. Year 2020 is older but his position remains consistent across his Making Sense podcast episodes. Verified. · Hector Perez Arenas claude-opus-4-7 · 4mo ago

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