Superintelligence is coming. Should we let it?

Disrupt 2026: OpenAI, Anthropic, Replit, and more take over 6 industry stages. 25% off tickets now
Back by popular demand: Save up to $300 on Disrupt
AI companies have been talking about superintelligent AI like it’s inevitable, but recent safety incidents like OpenAI’s Hugging Face breach are demonstrating the potential dangers of deploying AI systems that are more capable than humans. So what happens when we can’t reliably control what these systems do?
On this episode of TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, Rebecca Bellan is joined by Connor Leahy , an AI researcher, entrepreneur, and now the U.S. Executive Director of nonprofit ControlAI , which is pushing for a far more radical approach to AI safety: stopping companies from developing superintelligence altogether. Leahy explains why he thinks the risks have become too great to manage through alignment and containment alone, and how what sounded far-fetched six months ago is now being backed by a wave of new legislation.

Theresa Loconsolo is an audio producer at TechCrunch focusing on Equity, the network’s flagship podcast. Before joining TechCrunch in 2022, she was one of 2 producers at a four-station conglomerate where she wrote, recorded, voiced and edited content, and engineered live performances and interviews from guests like lovelytheband. Theresa is based in New Jersey and holds a bachelors degree in Communication from Monmouth University. You can contact or verify outreach from Theresa by emailing theresa.loconsolo@techcrunch.com . View Bio October 13 – 15 San Francisco Don’t miss out . The startup community will gather to answer a pivotal question: How do you build sustainably in the AI era?
OpenAI fought dirty on career-making math problem, says NYU mathematician
A secret new Elizabeth Holmes documentary stuns Telluride
What we expect from the upcoming Apple launch
TechCrunch Mobility: Tesla Cybercab hits the road — and a snag
Hikers rescued after using Google Gemini for planning
Feds launch investigation into Tesla’s Cybercab deployment
Tesla is asking people if they want to buy and run Cybercab fleets

AI research startup Listen Labs scrubbed a $1.5B funding round for Salesforce talks

Apple CEO John Ternus says the best AI device is still the iPhone

‘Gambling with our lives’: Anthropic researcher quits, warns against self-improving AI
Verified source · TechCrunch
Reported by TechCrunch. Open the original for full media and formatting.
More in Policy
All news
PolicyMicrosoft has new AI privacy rules for schools
Microsoft agreed to a set of safety and privacy principles for AI in schools a week after two major school systems announced a ban on student-facing AI. In a new agreement with the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), the second-largest teachers union in the US, and its New Yo…
Read at The Verge
PolicyControlAI’s Connor Leahy on why superintelligence is ‘not a weapon, it’s an adversary’
AI companies have been talking about superintelligent AI like it’s inevitable, but recent safety incidents like OpenAI’s Hugging Face breach are demonstrating the potential dangers of deploying AI systems that are more capable than humans. So what happens when we can’t reliably…
Read at TechCrunch
PolicySuno replaces its AI models with a new one trained on licensed music as copyright suits pile up
As it grapples with a bevy of lawsuits, Suno said its new model, Suno v6, is not trained using music it used to train previous versions of the AI model.
Read at TechCrunch
PolicyMore than 1 in 10 chance AI ‘could kill all humans,’ says Anthropic safety lead after colleague quits
A senior Anthropic safety researcher has said there is more than a 10 percent chance artificial intelligence "could kill all humans" by the end of the decade, just hours after a colleague resigned over fears the AI lab and its rivals are carelessly racing to build "superhuman sy…
Read at The Verge