In Silicon Valley, comparing artificial intelligence to the industrial revolution has become a rhetorical cliché. Technology proponents paint a picture of the future where intelligent machines solve global problems and bring unprecedented prosperity. However, hidden behind this optimism is a historical parallel that is often ignored: industrialization brought not only wealth but also social inequality, mechanized warfare, and an ecological crisis.

A group of leading economists and AI experts has published an open letter titled "We Must Act Now," calling on society to learn this historical lesson. The document has already gathered hundreds of signatures, including names of heavyweight figures such as former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, OpenAI co-founder Wojciech Zaremba, Anthropic co-founder Jack Clark, and Turing Award winner Yoshua Bengio.

Speed as the Main Risk Factor

The text of the letter is concise, but its message is unambiguous: the danger lies not so much in the scale of change as in its pace. The authors argue that AI could radically strengthen itself within the next decade. This will lead to an economic transformation surpassing the industrial revolution in scope but occurring in an infinitesimally short period.

If humanity had decades to adapt to the side effects of industrialization, there will be no time to adapt to the consequences of AI. Experts paint a picture of a society that has "dozed off at the wheel" while approaching a cliff.

Global Alarm: From the UN to the Vatican

The experts' letter has become part of a growing wave of warnings voiced at the highest levels in recent months:

  • UN: The Secretary-General of the organization has called for a ban on "killer robots" — autonomous weapons based on AI.
  • Cybersecurity: In June, international agencies, including the NSA, stated that AI would "fundamentally transform" the field of cybersecurity not in years, but in the coming months.
  • Vatican: Pope Leo XIV, in the encyclical "Magnifa Humanitas," warned that uncontrolled AI development threatens a new era of social alienation and political division.

Recursive Self-Improvement and Loss of Control

One of the main dangers discussed in technological circles is the concept of recursive self-improvement — the ability of algorithms to create new, more perfect versions of themselves. Experts fear that such systems could quickly escape human control, becoming opaque in their decision-making and irreversibly changing the economy and politics.

Even industry leaders, such as representatives of OpenAI and Anthropic, are calling for the creation of a global committee to oversee the development of advanced systems and to forcibly slow down progress if necessary.

Political Reaction and New Rules of the Game

The concern is caused not only by theoretical risks but also by real breakthroughs in cybersecurity, where algorithms are already demonstrating the ability to find vulnerabilities in protected software. This has led to the fact that even the Trump administration, traditionally supporting AI development, has begun to implement a system of checks and balances.

As an example, the launch of the new GPT-5.6 model by OpenAI is cited. The corporation publicly stated that the release took place after receiving the "green light" from the federal government. At the same time, officials deny that any official approval was given or was even required. This incident only underscores how tense the situation around the deployment of powerful artificial intelligence models is becoming.