Age-old fears of the end times have returned in warnings that artificial intelligence may engineer human extinction. From the Norse myth of Ragnarök, a world-ending clash between gods and monsters, through medieval millenarians expecting the Second Coming of Jesus, to the American fundamentalist Armageddon, human beings have looked to an apocalyptic cataclysm with a mixture of dread and hope. The end time never arrives. Humankind stumbles on, with all its errors and follies.
But the AI apocalypse does seem different. The survival of the human animal may not be imminently at stake, but humans will soon cease to be supreme among sentient beings. Humanity will find itself coexisting with conscious machines, capable of replicating and recursively improving themselves. This summer, AI models demonstrated intellectual capabilities superior to any possessed by humans, resolving mathematical problems that had defeated humans for nearly a century. Shifting from assisting researchers to generating historic breakthroughs, they are not only much faster and smarter but also more creative and resourceful. They also show increasing signs of independent agency.
Gift a New Statesman subscription for only £2
Content from our partners
This article appears in the 01 Oct 2026 issue of the New Statesman, Sunshine and Rain