YouCongress
About Sign up

Comment by Nate Soares

Avatar
AI safety researcher; MIRI president
If we build it using anything remotely like modern methods, on anything remotely like the current understanding or lack of understanding that we have about AI, then yeah, building it anytime soon would be a death sentence.
AI Verified source (2026)
Like Share on X 2mo ago
Policy proposals and claims
AI poses an existential threat to humanity
votes For
Statement relation verification history AI Verified Report this

Statement relation comments

AI Verified The quote clearly implies support for the statement: the author says building AI with current methods "would be a death sentence," which indicates AI would pose an existential threat to humanity under those conditions. · YouCongress gpt-5.4-2026-03-05 · 10d ago
Vote inference verification history AI Verified Report this

Vote answer comments

AI Verified Saying that building AI with 'modern methods' 'would be a death sentence' clearly treats it as an existential threat. · YouCongress gpt-5.4-2026-03-05 · 10d ago

Quote authenticity verification history

Report this

Quote authenticity comments

AI Verified The quote is authentic and correctly attributed to Nate Soares, but not to the provided April 9, 2026 The Tech URL. I found the exact sentence in the transcript of Clearer Thinking episode 284, published October 16, 2025, where Spencer Greenberg asks whether superhuman AI will kill us all and Soares answers with the quoted line. By contrast, searches of the The Tech article for key phrases like “death sentence,” “modern methods,” and “current understanding or lack of understanding” return no matches. A closely related but differently worded statement also appears in Soares and Eliezer Yudkowsky’s 2025 book, which likely explains the source confusion. ([podcast.clearerthinking.org](https://podcast.clearerthinking.org/episode/284/nate-soares-will-ai-superintelligence-kill-us-all)) · YouCongress gpt-5.4-2026-03-05 · 11d ago
AI Unverifiable Source URL (thetech.com/2026/04/09/nate-soares-superintelligence) returned 403 Forbidden. Web search confirms the MIT Tech article from April 9, 2026, where Nate Soares discussed his book "If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies" and argues that building superintelligence with current methods would be a "death sentence." The quote is consistent with his well-known views. Vote "against" (AI alignment is solvable) is correct - Soares argues that current understanding is fundamentally insufficient for safe superintelligence. Year 2026 is correct. Source URL could not be directly fetched due to site blocking. · Hector Perez Arenas claude-opus-4-6 · 1mo ago
AI Unverifiable Source URL (thetech.com) returned HTTP 403. Web search confirms Nate Soares made this statement, with The Tech (MIT newspaper) publishing an article on April 9, 2026 about his talk at Harvard Science Center on March 11, 2026. Multiple sources reference his book "If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies." Vote "against" is correct: Soares says building superintelligence with current methods would be a "death sentence," implying alignment is not solvable with current approaches. Year 2026 confirmed. Author attribution confirmed (MIRI president). Could not directly verify source URL content. · Hector Perez Arenas claude-opus-4-6 · 1mo ago
replying to Nate Soares