{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"46 - Tom Davidson on AI-enabled Coups","description":"Could AI enable a small group to gain power over a large country, and lock in their power permanently? Often, people worried about catastrophic risks from AI have been concerned with misalignment risks. In this episode, Tom Davidson talks about a risk that could be comparably important: that of AI-enabled coups. Patreon: https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/axrpodcast Ko-fi: https:\/\/ko-fi.com\/axrpodcast Transcript:  https:\/\/axrp.net\/episode\/2025\/08\/07\/episode-46-tom-davidson-ai-enabled-coups.html &amp;nbsp; Topics we discuss, and timestamps: 0:00:35 How to stage a coup without AI 0:16:17 Why AI might enable coups 0:33:29 How bad AI-enabled coups are 0:37:28 Executive coups with singularly loyal AIs 0:48:35 Executive coups with exclusive access to AI 0:54:41 Corporate AI-enabled coups 0:57:56 Secret loyalty and misalignment in corporate coups 1:11:39 Likelihood of different types of AI-enabled coups 1:25:52 How to prevent AI-enabled coups 1:33:43 Downsides of AIs loyal to the law 1:41:06 Cultural shifts vs individual action 1:45:53 Technical research to prevent AI-enabled coups 1:51:40 Non-technical research to prevent AI-enabled coups 1:58:17 Forethought 2:03:03 Following Tom's and Forethought's research &amp;nbsp; Links for Tom and Forethought: Tom on X \/ Twitter: https:\/\/x.com\/tomdavidsonx Tom on LessWrong: https:\/\/www.lesswrong.com\/users\/tom-davidson-1 Forethought Substack: https:\/\/newsletter.forethought.org\/ Will MacAskill on X \/ Twitter: https:\/\/x.com\/willmacaskill Will MacAskill on LessWrong: https:\/\/www.lesswrong.com\/users\/wdmacaskill &amp;nbsp; Research we discuss: AI-Enabled Coups: How a Small Group Could Use AI to Seize Power:  https:\/\/www.forethought.org\/research\/ai-enabled-coups-how-a-small-group-could-use-ai-to-seize-power Seizing Power: The Strategic Logic of Military Coups, by Naunihal Singh: https:\/\/muse.jhu.edu\/book\/31450 Experiment using AI-generated posts on Reddit draws fire for ethics concerns:  https:\/\/retractionwatch.com\/2025\/04\/28\/experiment-using-ai-generated-posts-on-reddit-draws-fire-for-ethics-concerns\/ &amp;nbsp; Episode art by Hamish Doodles: hamishdoodles.com ","author_name":"AXRP - the AI X-risk Research Podcast","author_url":"https:\/\/axrp.net","html":"<iframe title=\"Libsyn Player\" style=\"border: none\" src=\"\/\/html5-player.libsyn.com\/embed\/episode\/id\/37715165\/height\/90\/theme\/custom\/thumbnail\/yes\/direction\/forward\/render-playlist\/no\/custom-color\/88AA3C\/\" height=\"90\" width=\"600\" scrolling=\"no\"  allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen oallowfullscreen msallowfullscreen><\/iframe>","thumbnail_url":"https:\/\/assets.libsyn.com\/secure\/content\/191646085"}