Neither a Luddite nor a utopian be.
“Artificial general intelligence” (AGI) is typically defined as any computer system that can match or surpass human intelligence in performing any task a human can perform. No such program yet exists, but if one were to arise it could instantly begin improving its own capabilities. The result might be a kind of superintelligence, as far beyond our own intelligence as ours is beyond that of snails There exists no natural limit to this process. The only guardrails would be those we construct now, before the avalanche begins.
The timeline remains uncertain, yet the “San Francisco consensus” among AI researchers predicts superintelligence by decade’s end. Skeptics raise legitimate concerns about decades of failed predictions. But when Nobel laureates warn of extinction and industry leaders purchase remote bunkers or speak of “summoning the demon,” prudence demands attention. These are not Luddites but AI’s very architects sounding the alarm.
At the heart of the concern that AI could cause catastrophe lies the alignment problem: ensuring superintelligent systems pursue beneficial goals. To the conservative mind, this represents original sin in silicon. Just as humanity inherited a nature prone to rebellion against the divine order, our artificial progeny could well inherit our flawed intentions, pursuing goals with superhuman capability but without moral restraint.
Techno-optimists brush off these concerns as fusty moralism. They boast of “making sand think” and “building God.” But this dream of AGI utopia and perfect algorithmic rationality—the faith that we can encode pure reason uncorrupted by human frailty—will prove as dangerous as Rousseau’s fantasy of human perfectibility. Just as the Founders understood that men are not angels and therefore require government and that governments, being administered by men, require limitation, we must recognize that our digital creations will inherit our fallen nature and likewise demand constraint.
Here conservatives possess unique wisdom. We harbor no illusions about creating perfect systems, because we harbor no illusions about human perfectibility. We know from bitter experience that power corrupts, that good intentions pave roads to hell, that hubris invites nemesis. These are not mere aphorisms but blood-purchased lessons. The proper conservative approach to AGI is neither a utopian embrace nor a Luddite rejection but stewardship: technology guided by permanent truths and directed toward human flourishing.
As Chesterton warned, “When men choose not to believe in God, they do not thereafter believe in nothing, they then become capable of believing in anything.” The Silicon Valley cult of AGI represents precisely this: a new religion promising salvation through technology, complete with its own theology of infinite growth and digital resurrection.
Against this stands the conservative recognition that we are created beings, not self-creating gods. Our task is not to transcend humanity but to fulfill it. This means building AI that augments human judgment rather than replacing it. It should strengthen rather than dissolve human relationships and labor, expanding rather than eliminating human agency.
This demands humility, that rarest trait in Silicon Valley. It requires institutional structures capable of governing unprecedented power. We need not worship disruption but learn to govern it wisely. We can do this by drawing from our civilizational inheritance. To that end, a few basic elements of timeless wisdom suggest themselves as first principles for approaching AGI:
First, we must apply subsidiarity with coordination. Nothing should be done by a larger organization that can be accomplished by a smaller one. States can serve as laboratories for AI policy, but existential risks demand federal and international coordination.
Second, American leadership must embed our values. The global AGI race is real—China builds AI for surveillance and control. Our goal cannot be merely to win but to demonstrate how free peoples can lead responsibly. This means embedding liberty, dignity, and consent of the governed into AI architecture itself.
Third, we must embrace intergenerational responsibility. Burke conceived society as a partnership “between those who are living, those who are dead, and those who are to be born.” Our AGI decisions will echo across centuries. We must approach this technology not as a product to optimize but as a civilizational choice. This could mean we chose not to build every capability, especially those which could escape our control.
Conservatives are often caricatured as opposing change. In actuality, our true calling runs deeper: to preserve through change what must not be lost. AGI demands not that we stop history but that we remember its lessons.
The alignment problem is fundamentally human: it concerns power, purpose, and pride. Conservatives, seasoned in the tragic wisdom of limits, are uniquely equipped to address it. Let others dream of building gods; we will defend the human. Let others chase infinite growth; we will cultivate enduring goods. Let others automate civilization’s soul; we will remember that civilization exists to serve the soul.
The silicon eschaton is not inevitable. The AI future remains within human control if we act with tradition-rooted wisdom. We need dynamic traditionalism, anchored in eternal principles while responsive to contemporary challenges.
Our age will be measured not by the machines we build but by the humanity we preserve. Our goal should not be only to solve problems but to transmit wisdom. We must focus not on unleashing power for power’s sake, but on aligning virtue in a balanced power. For ultimately, the conservative vision ensures our tools, however powerful, remain servants of the permanent things that make us human.
The American Mind presents a range of perspectives. Views are writers’ own and do not necessarily represent those of The Claremont Institute.
The American Mind is a publication of the Claremont Institute, a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, dedicated to restoring the principles of the American Founding to their rightful, preeminent authority in our national life. Interested in supporting our work? Gifts to the Claremont Institute are tax-deductible.
