well).
Here, again, climate change might be an instructive analogy. The ﬁrst calculations of the greenhouse
effect occurred in 1896; the issue began to receive attention in the highest levels of national and
international governance in the late 1960s; and scientiﬁc consensus began to form in the 1980s.149 Yet
here we are, more than 30 years later, with the problem unsolved, and continuing to escalate—thanks
in part to the multiplicity of relevant actors (some of whom deny/minimize the problem even in
the face of clear evidence), and the incentives and externalities faced by those in a position to do
harm. There are many disanalogies between PS-alignment risk and climate change (notably, in the
possible—though not strictly necessary—immediacy, ease of attribution, and directness of AI-related
harms), but I ﬁnd the comparison sobering regardless.150 At least in some cases, “warnings” aren’t
enough.
Is Power-Seeking AI an Existential Risk?