Posted September 14, 2026
“There is no subject now but artificial intelligence. Nothing else is as crucial, nothing carries dangers so imminent or implications so great for the human future.” This is how Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan, a former speechwriter for Ronald Reagan and one of the most even-handed commentators I know, begins her latest article.
She closes it: “The stakes are high, couldn’t be higher.”
Artificial intelligence has been in the news for years. Why all the fervor in recent days?
On September 9, AI engineer Jacob Coxon posted on X: “I resigned from Anthropic today.” He warned that AI developers “are racing straight to self-improving superintelligence and gambling with our lives.” His post sparked headlines across the week and has generated more than 170 million views as of this morning. It is notable that Coxon gave up equity in the company when he resigned, demonstrating the urgency of the crisis in his view.
Thus began what the Wall Street Journal calls “America’s Great AI Freakout.”
At the heart of the concern is a capacity known as “recursive self-improvement,” or RSI. This refers to a stage when AI models are able to write their own programs and drive their own development.
If they reach this stage, one expert said, this could lead to “catastrophic and irreversible loss of control in the very near term.” Another noted that “there is not yet a viable scientific plan to solve risks” from RSI. A third expert warned, “It’s hard to overstate how dangerous speeding toward RSI is.”
If AI reaches RSI and pursues goals that do not align with human flourishing, it’s not hard to imagine apocalyptic outcomes for our race. One expert noted that once AI systems become substantially more capable than humans, “all bets are off.” They could develop a far better understanding of physics, chemistry, and biology than humans have, he said, and might eventually control millions of robots as well.
However, RSI is just one dimension of the threat.
Anthropic recently announced that it had stopped multiple attempts by scientists this year to use its technology for research that could help develop biological weapons. It also disrupted an operation by Iran-linked actors to use AI in building strategies for attacking US naval vessels.
Some AI experts fear AI could be used to stage cyberattacks and disinformation campaigns. AI systems could be employed to attack critical infrastructure such as electricity, water, transport, financial services, and communications. It could also help malicious actors develop new computer viruses and could even seize control of our nuclear arsenal and employ it against us.
How does AI think it could destroy humanity? When Business Insider asked four AI models what an AI doomsday could look like, the chatbots said that human misuse of AI constitutes the greatest threat, especially if bad actors launched “multiple AI-enabled crises” at the same time.
SpaceXAI’s Grok said AI lowers barriers to such attacks. Anthropic’s Claude also highlighted the possibility that AI could enable a person or small group to develop a dangerous pathogen without years of specialized expertise.
On Saturday, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei called on AI companies to deliberately slow the pace of frontier model development, warning that unchecked growth could enable AI agents to hijack global internet infrastructure within the next year. Within hours, OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman and SpaceXAI founder Elon Musk voiced their support for his ideas.
In response to the growing threat, dozens of lawmakers are also offering proposals to regulate AI models. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) wants to bring AI companies together to reach “consensus” on safety guardrails. President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping will discuss AI safety when they meet at the end of the month.
One reason the threat of an AI apocalypse is so frightening is that most of us don’t understand it and don’t know what could or should be done in response. James K. Hammitt, director of the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis, observed: “We tolerate risks that we’re used to but fear the new ones.”
His observation brings me to my point today.
The only safe way to face the end of history is to be ready for it to end today. Our greatest fear should not be that AI could end life on this planet, but that we are not ready for the day when God does.
Scripture is clear: “The day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed” (2 Peter 3:10). In response, we are to “be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace” (v. 14).
Jesus could return to our world tomorrow (Matthew 24:36), or take us to himself today (John 14:3). Jonathan Edwards, the greatest theologian America has ever produced, therefore resolved “never to do anything, which I should be afraid to do, if it were the last hour of my life.”
I am making his resolution mine today. Will you join me?
“Few souls understand what God would accomplish in them if they were to abandon themselves unreservedly to him and if they were to allow his grace to mold them accordingly.” —Ignatius of Loyola (1491–1556)
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