Artificial intelligence (AI) has progressed at an astounding pace over the last few years. Some scientists are now looking towards the development of artificial superintelligence (ASI)—a form of AI that would not only surpass human intelligence but would not be bound by the learning speeds of humans.
But what if this milestone isn't just a remarkable achievement? What if it also represents a formidable bottleneck in the development of all civilizations, one so challenging that it thwarts their long-term survival?
This idea is at the heart of a research paper I recently published in Acta Astronautica. Could AI be the universe's "great filter"—a threshold so hard to overcome that it prevents most life from evolving into space-faring civilizations?
This is a concept that might explain why the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) has yet to detect the signatures of advanced technical civilizations elsewhere in the galaxy.
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