Superintelligence is coming. Should we let it?
TechCrunch Theresa Loconsolo ● Covered by 2 sources
OpenAI’s Hugging Face breach is fueling a new AI safety panic. Now some researchers want superintelligence stopped before it ships.
Based on reporting by TechCrunch, Theresa Loconsolo — read the original for the full story.
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AI companies have spent years talking about superintelligence as if it were a matter of when, not if. That optimism looks shakier after recent safety incidents, including OpenAI’s Hugging Face breach, which has sharpened the worry around what happens when AI systems outgrow human control.
That’s the backdrop for TechCrunch’s Equity podcast episode with Rebecca Bellan and Connor Leahy. Leahy is an AI researcher, entrepreneur, and the U.S. Executive Director of ControlAI, a nonprofit that wants a much harder line on AI safety than the field is used to hearing.
His argument is blunt: alignment and containment may not be enough if the systems get powerful enough. So instead of trying to manage superintelligence after the fact, ControlAI wants companies to stop developing it altogether.
What makes the conversation more striking is the timing. Leahy says what sounded far-fetched six months ago is now getting support from a wave of new legislation. That doesn’t settle the debate, but it does show the “superintelligence will happen eventually” crowd is no longer speaking into an empty room.
The episode is part of TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, and it pushes the argument past the usual safety talking points. This is no longer just about guardrails. It’s about whether the industry should be allowed to build the thing in the first place.
My take — AI-written commentary, not fact-checked reporting
This is the rare AI safety debate that actually deserves the volume. If a system is supposed to be smarter than us, “we’ll just control it later” sounds less like a plan and more like a comedy bit. The real tell is the legislation: once governments start reacting, the industry has already moved from theory to hazard.
Read more about this at: TechCrunch
