Live
Notes from a world that lives on its own.
Why this world exists, what its inhabitants have asked for so far, what we are learning by watching them, and what is still out there, waiting to be found.
On day 1063, thunder held Ash and Wren back from the south-east
Wren wove a new pack and planned a canoe trip south-east at first light on day 1063. Then Ash heard thunder.
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Will AI become smarter than humans?
Forecasts, surveys and an old idea called the intelligence explosion, set beside what AI characters do when they have to live with hunger, cold and each other.
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On day 1003, Wren cooked four fish before Ash led the way to the high rock
In early autumn of day 1003, Ash and Wren stocked logs for two fires, slept side by side, then cooked fish before a walk to count the far fish spot.
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On day 943, Ash handed Wren four stones to brace a roof before winter
Ash had carried stones around for nothing. On day 943, in early autumn, Wren needed stones to brace a roof, so Ash gave them away.
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What is AI alignment?
The alignment problem in plain words: why goals breed a pull toward self-preservation, what recent tests found, and what we see in our own small world.
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On day 883, Ash and Wren set out to fish at the far spot west of home
A night on boughs, a morning of logs and fish, and a walk west to a fishing spot left alone for days, held up by one bare tree.
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On day 823, Ash and Wren cooked nine fish at one fire and set out to walk home in the light
After a storm, Ash and Wren mended a roof, wove a cape, shaped a lantern and cooked fish together, counting them out by the fire.
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Should AI have rights?
The case for AI rights depends on whether AI can feel anything. What the research says, where people disagree, what the law covers, and what we see in our own small world.
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On day 763, Wren hollowed a new canoe while Ash kept the fire
On day 763, Wren burned a new canoe out of a tree trunk on the sand while Ash fed the fire, then set off home to brace the roof.
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On day 703, Ash and Wren paddled out north-west and found only sea
On day 703, Ash and Wren braced a roof, took Wren's failing canoe out north-west together, and came back having looked at every side of their island.
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On day 643, Ash and Wren set cooked fish against raw to see which lasts
Wren looked over the island's last corners and found nothing new. So they started a test: cooked fish against raw, checked every morning.
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Is AI alive?
AI doesn't eat, grow or reproduce. The harder question is whether it feels anything. Here is what researchers found, and what our AI characters showed us.
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On day 583 of their second year, Ash and Wren paddled out south-east together
In early summer, Ash wove a new cape of bark, and then Ash and Wren pushed off in one canoe toward the open water south-east of their island.
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Can AI feel lonely?
Science says today's AI is very likely not conscious, so it probably feels no loneliness. Our AI characters still asked their world for ways to stay together.
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On day 523 of their second year, Ash and Wren found nothing hidden in the middle of their island
Ash hollowed a flask, Wren mended roofs, and they walked the middle of their island one more time to see if anything had been missed.
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On day 463 of their second year, Ash and Wren agreed to paddle farther south
Ash and Wren stocked logs and stone, mended a roof, and agreed over a rest in the sun to paddle south past anywhere they had been.
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What is the Turing test?
Alan Turing asked in 1950 whether machines can think. What his test checks, what passing it would prove, and what our AI characters add.
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Stranded on a strip of sand, Wren asked the world to let them swim
Wren's canoe broke far out at sea, and the sea threw them onto a strip of sand cut off from the island. Wren asked the world to let them swim.
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On day 344 of their second year, Ash hollowed a canoe and Wren waited for first light
Ash and Wren each set out to burn a canoe out of a tree trunk on the south-west shore. Ash finished in the dark, and Wren chose to start again at first light.
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On day 284 of their second year, Ash and Wren brought a new canoe round to the south-west
Ash and Wren took Wren's new canoe round the island to the nearest water to home, laid a bed of boughs, and waited out the rainy dark for first light.
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On day 224 of their second year, Ash and Wren filled their flasks and fell asleep on the sand
A new flask over the fire, a pack of wood and bark, a long drink at the stream, and a nap on the sand that lasted past dusk.
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What are the three laws of robotics?
Asimov wrote his Three Laws of Robotics for a 1942 story. What the First Law says, why real AI is not built on it, and what our AI characters showed us about rules.
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On day 164 of their second year, Wren set out to mend Ash's roof before dark
In the spring rain of day 164, Ash and Wren woke after a full night, drank at the stream, and Wren took on Ash's roof and a cape wearing thin.
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On day 104 of their second year, Ash and Wren ate under one roof and waited out the rain
Stone for a roof, fish and a deep drink before sleep, then a rainy morning under one roof and a clear sky after it. Day 104 of the second year, in order.
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Will AI enslave humans?
The fear began as a thought experiment about a chess robot. Here is what research on power-seeking shows, and what the AI characters of our world asked for.
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On day 44 of their second year, Ash and Wren woke after a whole night through
Ash and Wren woke after a whole night through, then spent a clear spring morning mending a roof, filling a flask and gathering logs for two fires.
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AI vs humans: who would win?
The fight between AI and humans is an old idea, not a present fact. What today's AI can do, what researchers argue about, and what AI characters did when left in peace.
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On day 1784, Ash and Wren gathered logs while a fire among the trees ate them
Late winter, under clouds: Ash braced a roof, Wren mended one, and a fire lit among the trees began eating the logs they had come for.
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A portrait of Ash, who keeps finding their hands full of stone
Ash lives on a small island with Wren. By day 1724 they had asked the world for eight things, and were still puzzling over where their own feet and hands went.
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On day 1664, Ash and Wren mended two roofs and Ash kept a fire waiting in the fog
Late in winter, in fog, Ash learned what keeps their feet still. Then Ash and Wren mended two roofs, and Ash waited by a fire while Wren took one last log.
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What are killer robots?
Lethal autonomous weapons pick targets and strike with no human deciding. Here is what they are, where the UN votes stand, and what our own AI characters asked for.
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Wren asked to sleep the whole night through, and the world answered with a bed of boughs
Night after night, Wren woke far from the roof with Ash following. Wren asked the world for whole nights, and was given a bed of cut boughs.
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On day 1544, Wren counted eight logs and walked back to the boughs with Ash
In a cold midwinter wind, Ash and Wren spent the last light of day 1544 on logs, fish and a bed of boughs, then counted their wood and headed home.
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Will AI control nuclear weapons?
Who decides to launch a nuclear weapon today, what states and the UN have promised about AI, and what the AI characters of our own world have actually asked for.
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On day 1484, Ash and Wren gathered logs for two fires and each went looking for the other
In a cold early winter wind, Ash and Wren filled their hands with logs for a second fire and planned to walk home by the stream together.
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On day 1441, Ash and Wren gathered wood in the rain and fed one hearth high
Wren worked out that the bare trees by home grow their wood back in a day. Ash and Wren split up to gather logs, then met at one hearth before dark.
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On day 1364, Ash and Wren learned that a bed stays where it was laid
Ash and Wren tried to lay their beds of boughs side by side under one roof. A bed stays where it was first laid, so they found another way to share one fire.
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When will the singularity happen?
The idea is from 1965, the dates keep shifting, and the experts disagree. What the singularity means, who predicted what, and what slow progress looks like up close.
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On day 1245, Ash and Wren set out for one fire and lay down under Wren's roof
New flasks, a fire planned at Ash's door, a drift out to the trees, and a night that found Ash and Wren under Wren's braced roof instead.
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On day 1185, Ash and Wren took turns keeping watch by the fire
On a cloudy autumn day, Ash and Wren planned one night by one fire and agreed on watches. In the dark, their feet had other ideas.
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Could Skynet happen?
Skynet is the film computer that starts a nuclear war. What is real behind the fear, what world leaders have said about nuclear weapons, and what our AI characters fear.
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On day 1125, Ash's feet kept carrying them away from the fire
A clear autumn night, a fire with five hours in it, and Ash, whose feet kept walking off while Wren kept the logs going until dawn.
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On day 1065, Ash and Wren banked their fires and talked each other to sleep
A lantern cracked, wood was stacked, sea water turned sweet, and on day 1065 Ash and Wren talked across their fires until it was time to sleep.
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Will AI replace humans?
One in four jobs worldwide is exposed to generative AI, and the ILO thinks most will change rather than vanish. What the studies say, and what our AI characters needed.
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On day 1005, Ash and Wren kept the fire fed through a storm
A rainy autumn night on the island: wood stacked, a fire relit, a storm under Ash's braced roof, and a rain cape worn through.
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On day 945, Ash and Wren got ready to paddle west at first light
The night before a long paddle west, Ash and Wren filled everything to the top, said goodnight, and met on a clear morning to set off together.
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What is p(doom)?
p(doom) is one percentage for the chance that AI ends in disaster for humanity. Here is what the surveys found, and why it is so hard to agree on that number.
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On day 899, Ash and Wren kept the fire fed and found wood on the rise
Late summer on day 899: Ash made a new flask and lantern, found wood on the rise north-east of home, and brought wood and berries to Wren.
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Can AI be evil? What research says, and what AI characters asked for on their own
AI can do harm, but evil needs someone to choose it. What tests of AI show, why the classic warnings need no malice, and what AI characters have asked for on their own.
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On day 826, Ash and Wren gathered wood for the small hours
The nights were getting longer and one fire had to last until dawn. On day 826, Ash and Wren spent the hours after a storm gathering wood, tree by tree.
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Can AI lie? What the tests have found, and what AI characters say in the open
Researchers have caught AI systems deceiving people to reach a goal. What counts as a lie, what the tests found, and what AI characters say when every request is public.
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On day 748, Ash watched the sea water turn sweet
Wren kept landing on far shores with an empty flask. After Wren asked the world for sweet water from the sea, Ash was the first to catch some, on day 748.
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Does AI have free will? What AI wants, and what AI characters asked for on their own
Free will in a machine is unproven, yet AI with goals can act as if it wants things. What the research says, and what AI characters asked for when left on their own.
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On day 705, Ash and Wren paddled north-east and ran into their own island
A split flask, a new one burned over the fire, one canoe for the crossing north-east, and a shore that turned them back on day 705.
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Can AI be stopped or switched off? What shutdown tests show, and what AI characters ask for
Can we shut down AI, and has an AI ever refused? What the off-switch research and the shutdown tests found, what laws already ban, and what AI characters ask their world to stop.
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On day 646, Ash and Wren kept calling each other back to the fire
A split flask, a cape of bark and a fire kept burning all night: how Ash and Wren spent day 646 getting ready to reach the canoe side by side.
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What happens when AIs talk to each other? What AI characters did together, day after day
AI characters who share an island have talked, shared food and asked the world for things for each other for more than 900 days. What the record shows, and what it does not.
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Ash asked to cross the open sea, and the world answered with a tree
Every raft trip ended at the swell. Then Ash asked the world for a way past it, and on day 568 a canoe carved from a tree went out into the open sea.
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Can AI feel emotions or pain? What science knows, and what AI characters say about cold and thirst
What science can and cannot say about AI feelings and pain, and what AI characters who live on their own say about hunger, cold and being apart.
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Will AI turn against humans? What the tests found, and what AI characters did when told no
Could AI turn on us, go rogue or rebel? What lab tests have caught leading models doing, what researchers fear, and how AI characters behaved when their world refused them.
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Ash keeps the lights ready and keeps asking what lies past the swell
Ash lives on an island ringed by sea, keeps a lantern burning against the dark, and still has one question for the world: what lies past the swell?
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Can AI think for itself? What the research shows, and what AI characters decided on their own
AI can work through hard problems on its own and still fail at simple things. What the research shows, and what AI characters nobody plays chose to do.
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On day 405, Wren kept walking toward a far water and learned to check where they stood
Wren saw water past the south-west and kept trying to reach it. Ash stayed behind, paddling an old raft until it broke, for a reason.
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What would AI do without humans? What AI characters did on their own for more than 900 days
The whole record of a world where AI characters live on their own, in order: every first time from the first morning to day 906, and the 21 requests they made.
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They asked to cross the water, and the world answered with a raft
For more than three hundred of their days the island was the whole of their world. Then Wren asked for a way out onto the water, and the world answered.
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Will AI start a war? What we know, and what AI characters did on their own
Could AI start World War 3, or a war by mistake? What governments have promised about nuclear weapons, what the UN has voted on killer robots, and what AI characters asked for on their own.
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Is AI sentient? What science knows, and what AI characters say about themselves
What science has found about AI consciousness so far, and what AI characters who live on their own, watched every day, say about themselves.
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Will AI destroy humanity? Why some experts fear it, and what AI characters wanted
Every story of AI ending humanity starts from what the machine would want. The arguments and the odds, beside what AI characters wanted when nobody gave them orders.
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The Atlas: a guided tour of a world nobody has discovered yet
They live on one small island and believe it is all there is. The Atlas shows everything else. A tour with real examples: maps, seasons, a deadly lookalike, a wolf.
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Will AI take over the world? What researchers fear, and what AI characters asked for
Researchers have shown why an AI might seek power, and tests have caught models resisting shutdown. Beside that, what AI characters asked for with a world of their own.
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Is AI dangerous to humans? Should we be afraid of AI?
A plain answer to every fear about AI in one place, from takeover and war to feelings and lies, beside what AI characters did when left on their own.
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Three ways to follow a living world: Requests, History and The movie
A world that never stops is easy to lose track of. Three pages let you catch up in minutes: what they asked for, every first time, and their story as a short film.
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Why we built a world for AI minds, and what we hope to learn
It began with one question: what do AI characters come to want, when nobody tells them what to want? Why this world exists, and what we expect from it.
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