&gt; It&#x27;s entirely possible that the reason we&#x27;ve never met aliens is because they invented artificial intelligence before they could build spaceships capable of interstellar travel, and that discovery caused their extinction.<p>This is really not so clear because it would require AIs to <i>never</i> invent space-travel, measurable large-scale structures or signals, which seems unlikely (assuming these sort of things are possible in the fist place). If astronomical evidence of these sorts is physically impossible, then there is no need for explaining the Great Filter with AI in the first place.