An increasing number already have.

We think that the major impediment to people recognizing the threat is getting them to understand it. In the few short months since the book was shipped off to print, it seems to us that the world is already making headway in that direction.

Here are some statements by U.S. politicians on both sides of the political aisle, in the summer of 2025:

“Artificial superintelligence is one of the largest existential threats that we face right now. […] Should we also be concerned that authoritarian states like China or Russia may lose control over their own advanced systems? […] And is it possible that a loss of control by any nation-state, including our own, could give rise to an independent AGI or ASI actor that globally we will need to contend with?”

“I’m not voting for the development of skynet and the rise of the machines by destroying federalism for 10 years by taking away state rights to regulate and make laws on all AI.”

“There are very, very knowledgeable people — and I just talked to one today — who worry very much that human beings will not be able to control the technology, and that artificial intelligence will in fact dominate our society. We will not be able to control it. It may be able to control us. That’s kind of the doomsday scenario — and there is some concern about that among very knowledgeable people in the industry.”

“In our scramble to win the AI race against China, we risk losing ourselves…”

“That raises the likelihood that soon, the number one leadership challenge for world leaders, including the President of the United States, will be to manage the changes that AI is bringing about, and to use the visibility of office and the tools of policy to ensure that this technology makes people better off and not worse off.”

A lot more progress is needed, but the world is beginning to take notice. The time is ripe for alerting officials to the need for rapid action at the federal and international levels.