Book description
Yudkowsky, E, and Soares N. 2025. If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies : The Case against Superintelligent AI. London: The Bodley Head.
Description
AI is the greatest threat to our existence that we have ever faced. The scramble to create superhuman AI has put us on the path to extinction – but it’s not too late to change course. Two pioneering researchers in the field, Eliezer Yudkowsky and Nate Soares, explain why artificial superintelligence would be a global suicide bomb and call for an immediate halt to its development. The technology may be complex but the facts are simple: companies and countries are in a race to build machines that will be smarter than any person, and the world is devastatingly unprepared for what will come next. Could a machine superintelligence wipe out our entire species? Would it want to? Would it want anything at all? In this urgent book, Yudkowsky and Soares explore the theory and the evidence, present one possible extinction scenario and explain what it would take for humanity to survive. The world is racing to build something truly new – and if anyone builds it, everyone dies.
( Libraries SA | If anyone builds it…)
Parts, chapters and sections
- Introduction: Hard Calls and Easy Calls p. 3
- PART I: Nonhuman Minds p. 15
- Chapter 1: Humanity’s Special Power p. 17
- Chapter 2: Grown, Not Crafted p. 29
- Chapter 3: Learning to Want p. 45
- Chapter 4: You Don’t Get What You Train For p. 55
- Chapter 5: Its Favorite Things p. 77
- Chapter 6: We’d Lose p. 93
- PART II: One Extinction Scenario p. 115
- Chapter 7: Realization p. 117
- Chapter 8: Expansion p. 131
- Chapter 9: Ascension p. 151
- Coda p. 157
- PART III: Facing The Challenge p. 159
- Chapter 10: A Cursed Problem p. 161
- Chapter 11: An Alchemy, Not a Science p. 177
- Chapter 12: “I Don’t Want to Be Alarmist” p. 195
- Chapter 13: Shut It Down p. 209
- Chapter 14: Where There’s Life, There’s Hope p. 221
- Closing Words p. 233
- Acknowledgments p. 235
- Notes p. 236
- Index p. 253
About the Authors
Eliezer Yudkowsky
Eliezer Yudkowsky is a founding researcher of the field of AI alignment and the co-founder of the Machine Intelligence Research Institute. With influential work spanning more than twenty years, Yudkowsky played a major role in shaping the technical research agenda at MIRI and other research centers, and has helped introduce the topic of AI extinction risk to mainstream audiences. He appeared on TIME magazine’s 2023 list of the 100 Most Influential People In AI, and has contributed chapters to the academic anthologies The Cambridge Handbook of Artificial Intelligence and Global Catastrophic Risks. (MIRI | Eliezer Yudowsky)
Nate Soares
Nate Soares is the President of the Machine Intelligence Research Institute, and plays a central role in setting MIRI’s vision and strategy. Soares has been working in the field for over a decade, and is the author of a large body of technical and semi-technical writing on AI alignment, including foundational work on value learning, decision theory, and power-seeking incentives in smarter-than-human AIs. Prior to MIRI, Soares worked as an engineer at Google and Microsoft, as a research associate at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and as a contractor for the US Department of Defense. (MIRI | Nate Soares)
Where to find
The South Australian public library network holds multiple copies. Although not within Alexandrina libraries, it is available as an inter-library loan: See Source at Libraries SA.
Where to buy
If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies: The Case against Superintelligent AI is available through the publishing house, local bookstores, and online resellers. See WorldCat | If anyone builds it… for more book details.
Additional information
The AI takeover: Who controls the future?
This 55 minute video presented by Steve Cannane on the Australian Broadcasting Company Four Corners programme discusses the current state of artificial intelligence (AI), how it is already impacting our daily lives, and how in the future super intelligent AI may come to threaten our existence.
extinction scenario animated by Aric floyd
In Part II of f Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies: The Case against Superintelligent AI, the Yudkowsky and Soares lay out in three chapters how an AI superintelligence could expand its realm leading to the extinction of humanity. In the 44 minute video below, Aric Floyd, the presenter, walks us through how this possible scenario plays out over a surprisingly short time.
Book review
In 2025, Andrew Leigh, Australian Labor MP, academic and author wrote a review of the book. To read the discussion, click Review: If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies.
References
- ABC News In-depth 2026, The AI takeover: Who controls our future? | Four Corners Documentary, viewed on 12 June, 2026, https://youtu.be/jkPVjTl7o-Q?si=5lN8hJ9ZTi3_lfC5. This 55 minute video presented by Steve Cannane, a production of the Australian Broadcasting Company is on the topic of artificial intelligence.
- Leigh, A 2025, Book review: Eliezer Yudkowsky and Nate Soares, If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies: Why Superhuman AI Would Kill Us All, viewed on 12 June, 2026, https://www.andrewleigh.com/book_review_eliezer_yudkowsky_and_nate_soares_if_anyone_builds_it_everyone_dies_why_superhuman_ai_would_kill_us_all. This page is a book review by Andrew Leigh of the book by Eliezer Yudkowsky and Nate Soares.
- Libraries SA 2026, If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies : The Case against Superintelligent AI, viewed on 12 June, 2026, <https://libraries.sa.gov.au/client/en_AU/sapubliclibraries/search/results?qu=If+Anyone+Builds+It%2C+Everyone+Dies+%3A+The+Case+against+Superintelligent+AI&te=&rt=false%7C%7C%7CTITLE%7C%7C%7CTitle>. This Libraries SA search yields a list of copies of the book by the same name in the library network.
- Machine Intelligence Research Institute 2026, MIRI, viewed on 12 June, 2026, https://intelligence.org/. This is the official Web site for MIRI.
- MIRI 2026, If anyone builds it, viewed on 12 June, 2026, https://ifanyonebuildsit.com/. This is the official Web site for the book: If anyone builds it, everyone dies.
- MIRI 2026, Resources, viewed on 12 June, 2026, <https://ifanyonebuildsit.com/resources>. This page contains a list of resources including a video outlining how a super intelligence could cause the extinction of humans and possibly of all living creatures on Earth.
- MIRI 2026, Eliezer Yudkowsky, Co-founder, viewed on 12 June, 2026, https://intelligence.org/team/eliezer-yudkowsky/. This page provides a professional biography for Eliezer Yudkowsky, Co-Founder of MIRI
- MIRI 2026, Nate Soares, President, viewed on 12 June, 2026, https://intelligence.org/team/nate-soares/. This page provides a professional biography for Nate Soares, president of MIRI.
- WorldCat 2026, If anyone builds it, everyone dies : the case against superintelligent AI, viewed on 12 June, 2026, https://search.worldcat.org/title/1530776659?oclcNum=1530776659. This page discusses the details about the print book by the same name.