{"slug": "superintelligence-is-coming-should-we-let-it", "title": "Superintelligence is coming. Should we let it?", "summary": "AI researcher Connor Leahy, U.S. Executive Director of nonprofit ControlAI, is calling for a halt to the development of superintelligent AI, arguing that recent safety incidents such as OpenAI's Hugging Face breach show the risks are too great to manage through alignment and containment alone. Leahy's stance, once considered far-fetched, is now gaining support from new legislation.", "body_md": "AI companies have been talking about superintelligent AI like it’s inevitable, but recent [safety incidents](https://techcrunch.com/2026/09/04/openais-rogue-agents-keep-escaping-with-no-formal-process-to-investigate-them/) like OpenAI’s [Hugging Face breach](https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/26/openai-releases-its-official-report-on-the-hugging-face-breach/) are demonstrating the potential dangers of deploying AI systems that are more capable than humans. So what happens when we can’t reliably control what these systems do? \n\nOn this episode of TechCrunch’s [Equity](https://techcrunch.com/podcasts/equity/) podcast, Rebecca Bellan is joined by [Connor Leahy](https://www.linkedin.com/in/connor-j-leahy/), an AI researcher, entrepreneur, and now the U.S. Executive Director of nonprofit [ControlAI](https://controlai.org/), which is pushing for a far more radical approach to AI safety: stopping companies from developing superintelligence altogether. Leahy explains why he thinks the risks have become too great to manage through alignment and containment alone, and how what sounded far-fetched six months ago is now being backed by a wave of new legislation. \n\nSubscribe to Equity on [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/@TechCrunch), [Apple Podcasts](https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/id1215439780), [Overcast](https://overcast.fm/itunes1215439780/equity), [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/show/5IEYLip3eDppcOmy5DmphC?si=rZDFHv2sQUul_g94iCRgpQ) and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on [X](https://twitter.com/EquityPod) and [Threads](https://www.threads.net/@equitypod), at @EquityPod.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/superintelligence-is-coming-should-we-let-it", "canonical_source": "https://techcrunch.com/video/superintelligence-is-coming-should-we-let-it/", "published_at": "2026-09-09 16:05:35+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-09-09 16:22:48.846300+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-safety", "ai-policy"], "entities": ["Connor Leahy", "ControlAI", "OpenAI", "Hugging Face", "TechCrunch", "Equity"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/superintelligence-is-coming-should-we-let-it", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/superintelligence-is-coming-should-we-let-it.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/superintelligence-is-coming-should-we-let-it.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/superintelligence-is-coming-should-we-let-it.jsonld"}}