(Artificial) Alien Intelligence VCC
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Reception

Following Yuval Noah Harari, we interpret the acronym AI not as Artificial Intelligence but as Alien Intelligence. AI is alien to us and different from our intelligence. It can explore areas in many domains that our intelligence does not lead us into. This comes with not only opportunities but also great danger. Here we want to better understand the nature of AI and the benefits and threat AI poses to human society and the way we are. We want to reach out to society and communicate the thoughts we have so that there is sufficient precaution in letting AI take over many of the tasks we deem necessary to maintain our increasingly complex society.

Kant defined the Enlightenment as “man’s emergence from his self-imposed immaturity, the inability to use one’s understanding without guidance from another.” Before Enlightenment, humans looked to God for answers and religion for advice! Are we now heading into the post-Enlightenment, where we are looking to AI for answers and advice? Where those behind AI will have God-like power over us and give us their new religion to believe in?

AI is grown, not crafted!

If you have serious thoughts about the nature, potential and threats of AI, please join this VCC and participate in our deliberations, research, and outreach.

AI VCC Billboard

[Nov 04, 2025] AI Survey: A short survey on perceptions of Artificial Intelligence is open for students and faculty. Go to the Survey or use the QR code.

[May 04, 2025] Read the AI Beacon:

The AI Beacon reports regularly on news concerning the developments, uses, challenges, and dangers of what we should call Alien Intelligence.

News

AI VCC News

[Apr 04, 2026] Developing Robots Serves Wars: In an article by Luke Harding published in the Guardian today points out that the use of unmanned ground vehicles has grown exponentially since 2024 and argues that this rapid development of drones and robots and their broad use in wars changes the nature of war into a contest of technology. The article titled “‘The frontline is like Terminator’: fighting robots give Ukraine hope in war with Russia” features a wide range of robots including killer robots that have been developed in the Ukraine in the five years of war. This development shows that all development of very smart robots for peaceful application also supports the further development of those that can kill and do kill.

[Mar 08, 2026] Should Tech Oligarchs Reshape Humanity and Determine Our Future?: Eduardo Porter in the Guardian article titled “Tech oligarchs reshape humanity while billionaires of old seem quaint” emphasizes the uniqueness of the current situation, where the future of technology, and with this the future of humanity, is determined by a few tech oligarchs without any deliberation or democratic processes involving many. The author underlines the worldview of these oligarchs “is embedded in a belief that technology offers the best solution to all of humanity’s challenges, whether social, political, economic, demographic, biological, psychological, environmental, or whatever other dimension one might think of.” Porter reminds us of Altman, the CEO of OpenAI arguing that “Humanity “will be the first species ever to design our own descendants.”

Platform News

[May 28, 2026] No King Day on June 14, 2026: The No Kings movement has announced a nationwide event on June 14, 2026, directly counter-programming the 80th birthday celebrations for Donald Trump and the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) bout on the south lawn of the White House.

[May 22, 2026] DRG VCC opened: The "Disaster Risk Governance VCC" has been initialized and is open now.

[May 21, 2026] NEXUS VCC opened: The "Food-Water-Energy Nexus VCC" has been initialized and is open now.

[May 09, 2026] Doomsday Clock is Getting Closer to Midnight: In January, the Doomsday clock was set to 85 seconds before midnight, the closest setting since it was established in 1947 in response to the threat of nuclear war. Sophie McBain in her article “‘The odds are not in our favour’: who sets the Doomsday Clock – and what can they tell us about the future of humanity?” emphasizes that with the wars on Iran and on the Ukraine, the rapid and largely uncontrolled development of AI and the climate breakdown all together increasing the likelihood of a nuclear war, the clock now stands closer to midnight than ever before. She asks the question of whether we can buy ourselves more time.