Humanity's Remaining Timeline: 'More Like Five Years Than 50'
AI Doomer Yudkowsky: Humanity's Timeline 'Looks More Like Five Years Than 50'
Pressed for odds in a 2024 Guardian interview, he said the machine-made end 'could be two years, could be 10'. Year two has already come and gone.
What was said
“If you put me to a wall and forced me to put probabilities on things, I have a sense that our current remaining timeline looks more like five years than 50 years. Could be two years, could be 10.”
— Eliezer Yudkowsky, Machine Intelligence Research Institute (interviewed by The Guardian) · said Feb 17, 2024 · due 'more like five years than 50' (two to 10 years: 2026-2034)
Window open: his own range runs from February 2026 to February 2034, with about 2029 as the headline number.
The Story
The Guardian headlined the line. The interviewer glossed 'remaining timeline' as the time 'until we face the machine-wrought end of all things'. He framed it as a forced probability ('If you put me to a wall').
As of Oct 9, 2026
until the window closes
Put this countdown on your site →