I’ve argued that the AI situation is not clearly an ‘arms race’. By which I mean, going fast is not clearly good, even selfishly.

I think this is a hard point to get across. Like, these people are RACING. They say they are RACING. They are GOING FAST. If they stop RACING the other side will get there first. How is it not a RACE??

Which is a fair response.

It's like if I said “this isn’t a chess tournament” gesturing at a group of chess champions aggressively playing chess. How could it not be?

Well, maybe all the prizes and recognition available in the circumstances are based on winning at checkers. That would make it, in a very important sense, not a chess tournament. They can play chess all they like, but it doesn’t make the incentive structure into that of a chess tournament. If they want to win at a tournament, their strategy is just badly mistaken.

It's true that many people are trying to build AI very fast. But many people building AI very fast is different from being in a game where going very fast is the best selfish strategic [...]

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First published:
April 7th, 2026

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/z3xbNMk9R2fP3aqYf/ai-as-a-trojan-horse-race

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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Images from the article:

Large wooden Trojan horse sculpture on display in public square.

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“AI as a Trojan horse race” by KatjaGrace

LessWrong (30+ Karma)