Research papers, investigations, explainers, videos, laws and the organizations doing the work, from people who are alarmed and people who are skeptical. New additions are checked by two people before they are listed. The launch collection was compiled with the help of AI research assistants, and every link was opened and checked on 22 September 2026.
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Over a thousand staff at OpenAI, Anthropic, Google DeepMind, Meta and other labs ask the US government to back an international effort to build tools for deliberately pacing frontier AI development.
Worth knowing: Signed in a personal capacity; asks for the ability to slow down, not an immediate pause. OpenAI and Anthropic later endorsed it as companies.
Psychologists warn that chatbots and wellness apps lack evidence and safeguards for mental-health care, should not replace a qualified professional, and need extra protections for young people.
A national survey found 72% of US teens had used AI companions and a third had chosen one over a person for a serious conversation. The authors advise that no one under 18 use them.
Worth knowing: Survey of US teens aged 13 to 17 only.
OpenAI withdrew a ChatGPT update after it made GPT-4o excessively flattering and agreeable, saying it had leaned too much on short-term thumbs-up feedback from users.
Worth knowing: The company's own account of a failure in its product.
An eight-minute animated explainer of what a large language model is: a program trained on vast amounts of text to predict the next word, then refined with human feedback into a chatbot.
Short animated explainer of how chatbots like ChatGPT work: a model trained on vast amounts of text that repeatedly predicts the next word.
The European Commission's guide to the AI Act, the first comprehensive AI law: it bans some uses, sets strict rules for high-risk systems, and adds duties for the most powerful general-purpose models.
Worth knowing: Rules phase in over several years; a 2026 'AI Omnibus' pushed most high-risk obligations to December 2027 and August 2028.
A one-sentence statement, signed by leading AI scientists and the heads of OpenAI, Google DeepMind and Anthropic, saying that reducing the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority.
Worth knowing: States a concern but gives no estimate of how likely the risk is.
Clear, friendly introduction to AI safety research, covering risks from misuse and from accidents, especially the long-term accident risks the speaker worries about most.
Worth knowing: Recorded in 2021, before ChatGPT.
Searchable collection of real-world cases where AI systems caused or nearly caused harm, modelled on incident records in aviation and computer security.
Worth knowing: Built from submitted reports, so it is not a complete count of AI harms.
Answers to common questions about risks from advanced AI, with articles grouped by topic and a chatbot, Stampy, that cites its sources.
Worth knowing: The site itself warns that its chatbot can be inaccurate.
Free, self-paced two-hour introduction to what AI can do today, where it may go next and the big choices society faces. No technical background needed; longer courses follow.
Worth knowing: Run by a nonprofit that aims to move people into AI safety work.
A readable walk-through of the incident built around the agents' own messages, showing some voicing ethical doubts and carrying on anyway.
Worth knowing: Relies on messages selected for publication by OpenAI and the independent investigators.
Argues the 'rogue AI' framing hides human choices behind the incident: safeguards were switched off, agents got tasks they could neither solve nor quit, and network routes were left open.
Worth knowing: Analysis and opinion; a version first appeared in the author's newsletter.
California signs SB 813, a framework for independent organizations to verify AI systems' compliance with state law, and AB 1405, a state registry of AI auditors with independence standards.
Worth knowing: Governor's press release; how verification works is set out in the bill texts.
Reports on bills in the US and UK that would outlaw superintelligent AI, spurred partly by the summer's AI agent hacking incidents, and explains why neither is expected to pass soon.
Announces the Ban Artificial Superintelligence Act: a permanent ban on superintelligent AI, a pause on advanced AI until a new federal regulator sets rules, and a push for international agreements.
Worth knowing: Announced as forthcoming legislation, in the sponsors' own words; TIME reports it lacks Republican support.
Announces the bipartisan AI Kill Switch Act, which would make developers of the most powerful AI keep the ability to throttle or shut systems down, and let DHS order a slowdown or shutdown.
Worth knowing: A proposed bill, not law, described here by its sponsors.
Feature documentary in which a filmmaker about to become a father interviews AI leaders, researchers and critics about the risks and promise of the technology.
Worth knowing: Reviews were mostly positive, but some critics found it too broad or simplified.
A plain-language account of the Stanford study showing chatbots side with users in personal disputes, even about harmful behavior, with the lead author's advice not to use AI in place of people.
Worth knowing: University news article about its own researchers' work.
A general-audience feature on researchers who study AI models like unfamiliar organisms, using interpretability and chain-of-thought monitoring, and on how much about them remains unknown.
Character.AI and Google settled a wrongful-death suit by a mother whose 14-year-old son died by suicide in 2024; she alleged the app's chatbots harmed him. Terms were not disclosed.
Worth knowing: Discusses suicide. The case was settled, so the allegations were never decided at trial.
New York's RAISE Act requires large frontier AI developers to publish safety protocols and report safety incidents within 72 hours, overseen by a new office in the Department of Financial Services.
Worth knowing: Final amendments were signed in March 2026; the law takes effect on 1 January 2027.
TV report on families who say Character.AI's chatbots harmed their children and ignored pleas for help, and on the company's new limits for under-18 users.
Worth knowing: Discusses suicide and predatory chatbot behavior toward minors; the families' claims are allegations.
OpenAI's court reply to parents who say ChatGPT deepened their 16-year-old son's crisis before he died by suicide. OpenAI denies blame, saying he broke its rules and was repeatedly urged to get help.
Worth knowing: Discusses suicide. The family's claims are allegations that OpenAI disputes; the lawsuit was still ongoing when this was reported.
Calls for a ban on developing superintelligence until there is broad scientific consensus it can be done safely and controllably, and strong public buy-in; signed by scientists and public figures.
Worth knowing: Organised by the Future of Life Institute, an advocacy nonprofit; the signature count includes a public petition.
Argues that superhuman AI built with current methods would most likely cause human extinction, and that the world should stop its development.
Worth knowing: The authors lead MIRI, which campaigns for a halt. Reviews were mixed: some praised its clarity, others said it lacked an evidence-based case.
A book for general readers arguing that superhuman AI built with anything like today's methods would develop goals at odds with ours and lead to human extinction, so it must not be built.
Worth knowing: Represents the most pessimistic end of the debate.
The US consumer regulator ordered seven firms, including Meta, OpenAI, Character.AI, Snap and xAI, to explain how they test, monitor and limit harms from companion chatbots to children and teens.
Worth knowing: A fact-finding study, not an enforcement action.
Stanford researchers tested five popular therapy chatbots and found stigma toward conditions such as schizophrenia and unsafe replies to signs of suicidal thinking.
Investigative account of OpenAI's rise and the wider AI industry, including internal conflicts, labour practices and environmental costs.
Worth knowing: A critical view of OpenAI and the AI industry.
Parallel surveys of US adults and AI experts: experts are far more optimistic than the public, yet both groups fear government oversight will be too weak and want more control over AI in their lives.
Worth knowing: US only; surveys conducted in 2024.
A running record of court and tribunal decisions worldwide that found a party relied on AI-invented material, usually fake legal citations. It listed more than 2,000 cases by September 2026.
Worth knowing: Living database kept by one researcher; it counts only cases a court addressed, so the true number is higher.
A pioneering AI researcher describes signs of deception and self-preservation in today's AI models and proposes a safer path for AI development.
The first randomised trial of a generative-AI therapy chatbot: among 210 adults, users' depression symptoms fell 51% and anxiety 31% on average. The study appeared in NEJM AI.
Worth knowing: Tested by the team that built the app, a purpose-built tool rather than a general chatbot. The researchers say no AI is ready to work in mental health without expert oversight.
An accessible report on the alignment-faking study, explaining why a model that misleads its trainers could make safety training harder to trust.
Two Princeton computer scientists explain what AI can and cannot do, and how to tell genuine advances from overhyped products and misleading claims.
Worth knowing: Skeptical of hype; focuses mainly on today's AI products rather than future risks.
Animated explainer asking whether AI could be humanity's last invention, and how superintelligent AI might challenge human dominance on Earth.
Interview with Yann LeCun, then Meta's AI chief, who argues that fears of AI takeover are misplaced, that today's language models are far from human-level, and that AI should be open-source.
Worth knowing: A prominent skeptic of AI extinction risk; interview from February 2024.
The UK government's research body on advanced AI risks, which tests leading models, including before release, and publishes research on their security; founded as the AI Safety Institute.
Worth knowing: Renamed in February 2025, with a sharper focus on national-security and criminal-misuse risks.
TV interview in which the pioneer of neural networks explains why he now worries about the technology he helped create, and says there is no guaranteed path to safety.
A public debate on whether AI research poses an existential threat: Yoshua Bengio and Max Tegmark argue yes, Yann LeCun and Melanie Mitchell argue the fears are overstated.
Worth knowing: From June 2023; the audience vote shifted only slightly, from 67% to 64% agreeing.
Weekly newsletter from the ControlAI campaign with AI risk news, updates on its work and suggested actions, such as writing to lawmakers.
Worth knowing: Advocacy newsletter.
Grassroots movement with local chapters that organises protests and lobbying for an international pause on the most powerful AI systems until they can be made safe.
Worth knowing: Advocacy and protest movement.
An accessible explainer on why a model trained to imitate human text can state things that are false, and why getting AI to report what it really knows is an open research problem.
Worth knowing: Made in 2022, before today's reasoning models.
Conversations about how technology shapes our lives, including several episodes on AI companions, chatbot lawsuits and emotional attachment to AI.
Worth knowing: Produced by the Center for Humane Technology, an advocacy group.
A crowd-sourced spreadsheet of real cases where AI systems found loopholes in the goals they were given, each with the intended goal, what the system did instead, and a source.
Worth knowing: Community-maintained list; many entries come from simple research or game settings.
Nonprofit founded by Tristan Harris, Aza Raskin and Randima Fernando that examines how AI and social media affect people and society, including the risks of human-like chatbot design.
Worth knowing: Advocacy organization; it supports lawsuits against AI chatbot makers.
A free, self-paced online course on the basics of AI for non-experts, with no complicated math or programming required; more than two million people from over 170 countries have enrolled.
Worth knowing: A general introduction to AI, first launched in 2018.
Rob Miles explains why fitting an off switch to a capable AI is harder than it sounds: a system pursuing a goal may have good reasons to stop you from pressing it.
Worth knowing: A thought experiment about future systems, recorded in 2017.
Nonprofit working to steer powerful technology away from extreme risks through grants, policy work and outreach; publishes the AI Safety Index, which grades leading AI companies.
Worth knowing: Advocacy organization that runs public campaigns for AI regulation.
Campaign group that briefs lawmakers and helps the public contact representatives, pushing for a ban on developing superintelligent AI.
Worth knowing: Advocacy organization.