Artificial Intelligence Could Destroy Space Civilizations: Acta Astronautica

Scientists have identified artificial intelligence (AI) as a potential threat to intelligent life in the universe, which might explain the Fermi paradox. This is discussed in an article published in the journal Acta Astronautica.

The superintelligent form of AI (ASI), which surpasses human intelligence and is capable of self-learning, could play the role of a “great filter”—an insurmountable obstacle preventing the emergence of advanced civilizations capable of exploiting vast cosmic spaces.

Experts believe that the rapid development of artificial intelligence technologies could coincide with the time when civilizations transition from a single-planet existence to a multi-planet existence. According to one catastrophic scenario, if countries increasingly rely on autonomous AI systems competing against one another, it could lead to a situation where the military capabilities of artificial intelligence are utilized on an unprecedented scale for destruction. This could annihilate both civilization and AI systems.

The typical lifespan of a technologically advanced civilization could be less than a hundred years. This roughly aligns with the timeframe between the possibility of sending and receiving interstellar radio signals (the year 1960 on Earth) and the hypothetical creation of ASI on Earth (around 2040). If this estimate is incorporated into the Drake equation, there could only be a few intelligent civilizations at any given time.