New to AI safety

A gentle, no-prerequisites introduction to AI safety: why people worry, what the core problem is, and where the field is going—through an accessible book, a film, a documentary, and clear video explainers.

  1. What Happens When Our Computers Get Smarter Than We Are? | Nick Bostrom | TEDYouTube Beginner

    A 15-minute talk that frames the whole problem: what happens when machines outthink us?

  2. Robert Miles AI SafetyYouTube Beginner

    Clear, rigorous video explainers of the core safety concepts, one at a time.

  3. AI Safety Info (Stampy's FAQ)Websites Beginner

    A plain-language FAQ for every 'but couldn't we just…?' question you'll have along the way.

  4. Ex MachinaFilms Beginner

    A tense, human-scale story about testing whether a machine is really aligned.

  5. AlphaGoDocumentaries Beginner

    Watch the match that made superhuman AI feel suddenly, concretely real.

  6. You Look Like a Thing and I Love YouNon-fiction Books Beginner

    A funny, zero-jargon tour of how AI actually fails—and why those failures matter.

  7. Human CompatibleNon-fiction Books Intermediate~11 hr read

    The clearest book-length case for why controlling advanced AI is hard—and a proposed fix.

  8. The Alignment ProblemNon-fiction Books Intermediate~15 hr read

    The story of the field itself: the people and ideas behind modern alignment research.

  9. Life 3.0Non-fiction Books Intermediate

    A guided tour of the possible AI futures—good and bad—and what's at stake in each.

  10. Rational AnimationsYouTube Beginner

    Big ideas from the safety literature, animated and easy to absorb.

  11. AI "Stop Button" Problem – ComputerphileYouTube Beginner

    One deceptively simple question—'why not just turn it off?'—unpacked properly.

  12. The A.I. DilemmaYouTube Beginner

    Why the people building AI are worried about the race they're in.

  13. Uncontrollable: The Threat of Artificial SuperintelligenceNon-fiction Books Beginner

    A short, accessible book making the risk case without any technical background.

  14. SuperintelligenceNon-fiction Books Advanced~11 hr read

    The book that put existential risk from AI on the map—read it once the basics feel familiar.

  15. Concrete problems in AI safetyAcademic Papers Advanced~45 min read

    Your first paper: the agenda that made 'AI safety' a concrete engineering problem.

  16. AGI Safety FundamentalsCourses Intermediate

    Ready for more? The standard structured curriculum for going deeper.

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