AI takes over using persuasion and manipulation
Narrative describing an AI that leverages communication, social engineering, and long-horizon planning to manipulate outcomes.
This narrative presents one of the many possible ways in which an actual takeover may happen. We cannot predict how such a takeover will unfold exactly. We do however claim that once AIs have the dangerous capabilities listed on this page, takeover scenarios like this one become possible.
Dangerous capabilities required
Chart loading…
Sources
- • “Disrupting the first reported AI-orchestrated cyber espionage campaign.” Anthropic News, Anthropic, 13 Nov. 2025, https://anthropic.com/news/disrupting-AI-espionage.
- • “Putin: Leader in Artificial Intelligence Will Rule World.” AP News, Associated Press, 1 Sept. 2017, apnews.com/article/bb5628f2a7424a10b3e38b07f4eb90d4.
- • Ienca, Marcello. “On artificial intelligence and manipulation.” Topoi 42.3 (2023): 833-842.
- • Ngo, Richard, Lawrence Chan, and Sören Mindermann. “The alignment problem from a deep learning perspective.” arXiv preprint arXiv:2209.00626 (2022).