AI book club: Superintelligence by Nick Bostrom

When: Wednesday 25th June 2025, 6 pm – 8 pm.

Where: The Castle Inn, 36 Castle Street, Cambridge, UK. (Most likely we'll be at one of the large tables upstairs.)

Book: N. Bostrom. Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies. Oxford University Press, 2014.

Many high-profile scientists and AI company executives believe that super-human level AI could pose an existential risk to humanity, and have stated so publicly. But where does this idea of existential risk from AI come from? The answer is: it comes from the work of a number of philosophers and thinkers, perhaps the most prominent and influential of whom is Nick Bostrom. His seminal book develops a reasoned argument for why the default outcome from creating smarter-than-human AI would be humanity's doom (chapters 6-8), and also discusses in what ways doom might be avoided (chapters 9, 10, and 12).

You'll need to read chapters 6–10 and 12 of the book in advance. Please also bring along your own copy of the book to refer to in the session. You can pick up a copy at bookshops for about £12.