Three thoughts on civilisational handoff

LessWrong is exploring what happens when humans hand over major civilisational decisions to artificial intelligence. Contrary to common assumptions that AI takeover would accelerate progress, the analysis suggests things might actually slow down at first, with AI systems cautious about the pace of technological development. The piece describes a scenario where humans stay deeply involved even after handoff—consulting with AIs on philosophy and reasoning, helping communicate human values, and working on self-improvement. A notable wrinkle: the author suggests handoff might be reversible, with AIs potentially returning decision-making to humans if they conclude the handoff was premature, if they've achieved their goals, or if they can't maintain trustworthiness at higher levels of capability.

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