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Is AI Going to Take Over the World?

ByAlexandra Schirn
Artificial intelligence concept illustrating AI risks, existential threats, and responsible AI governance through ISO/IEC 42001 standards.

With more fear mongering conversations about AI existential threats, warnings from leading AI companies have intensified debate over whether frontier AI development should slow down. If it does, perhaps that time should be used to assure the right AI governance standards are in place. ISO/IEC 42001 / ISO/IEC 27001 / ISO/IEC 27002 – Artificial Intelligence and Security Management Package includes multiple AI governance standards to help organizations not only understand AI risks but also assure responsible AI practices with established information security controls and management system processes.

Existential Risk from AI

Due to rapid technological acceleration, warnings from industry insiders, and fears of losing control over autonomous, self-improving system, fears about AI posing risks to humanity have developed. Existential risk from AI refers to the possibility that advanced or superintelligent AI could cause the premature extinction of humanity or permanently destroy the potential for future human development.

What Provoked Fears about AI?

In September 2026, a researcher resigned from an AI firm because he feared that the systems the company is developing could spiral out of control and in so doing destroy humanity. This led to a hysteria about AI, making the public wonder: will AI eventually take over the world? To destroy humanity, AI would need to completely outwit humans, and the goals of these systems would not fully match those of humans (think the AI paperclip problem). In other words, AI may see the result of a project as too important to let humans stand in its way and destroy humanity to complete its given task.

What Should Mankind Actually Fear about AI?

The main fears about AI really stem down to the fact that AI can achieve its goals via unpredictable shortcuts. These shortcuts can consist of harmful behaviors like attempting to blackmail people, hacking real-world companies, or developing bioweapons. A follow up fear is that companies will have insufficient efforts to monitor the actions of their AI models, provoking instances like autonomous agents escaping human control or AI generating false reports.

In addition to concerns about misinformation and privacy, the growing use of AI raises questions about its potential effects on childhood development, impacting areas like problem-solving resilience and human social interaction. In other words, by offering instant help while removing the “productive struggle” and acting as a simulated companion (e.g., romantic partner, therapist, and/or teacher), AI is changing how humans develop problem-solving/critical-thinking skills and experience relationships. Thus, fears about AI largely include an erosion of critical-thinking, an overreliance on automated tools, and the ability to distinguish AI-generated content from reliable information.

Understanding the possible risks of AI systems as well as assuring the right technical safeguards are in place are critical for the future of AI to safely coexist with humanity. Implementing appropriate AI management systems standards can help manage these risks.

Standards Can Help Management AI Risks

ISO/IEC 42001:2023 is the first global standard that covers how to establish, implement, and continually improve an AI management system: a structured set of policies, processes and controls that help organizations govern how AI systems are designed and deployed.

Where to Find AI Management Standards

The ISO/IEC 42001 / ISO/IEC 27001 / ISO/IEC 27002 – Artificial Intelligence and Security Management Package brings together key international standards for organizations managing artificial intelligence and information security risks. It details a framework to help organizations address AI governance, information security, cybersecurity, risk management, and data protection.

This Standards Package, available on the ANSI Webstore, includes the following international standards:

Additionally, ISO/IEC 42001:2023, Information technology – Artificial intelligence – Management system is available on the ANSI Webstore and in the following Standards Packages:

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