p(doom)

plural p(doom)s · alternative doom · alternative P(doom)

1. countableuncountableartificial intelligenceThe probability of existentially catastrophic outcomes (doom) as a result of misaligned artificial intelligence, especially one's personal estimate for such an outcome, usually given as a percentage value.

   My p(doom) is 15%.

   5 more examples

   I’ve been to two tech events this year where a stranger has asked for my p(doom) as casually as if they were asking for directions to the bathroom.

   2023 December 6, Kevin Roose, “Silicon Valley Confronts a Grim New A.I. Metric”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 07 Dec 2023

   At gatherings like these, it’s not uncommon to hear someone strike up a conversation by asking, “What are your timelines?” or "What's your p(doom)?”

   2024 March 18, Andrew Marantz, “О.К., Doomer”, in The New Yorker, page 42

   Those at the extreme end of the AI safety spectrum with the highest levels of p(doom) grew increasingly unsettled by the seeming uncomplicated optimism with which [Sam] Altman and the rest of the company viewed this history.

   2025, Karen Hao, Empire of AI, New York City: Penguin Press, →ISBN

   And the cartoonish connotations are apt: just like such fictional battles, p(doom) estimates are based in fantasy rather than data or empirical fact.

   2025, Emily M. Bender, Alex Hanna, “An Introduction to AI Hype”, in The AI Con: How to Fight Big Tech’s Hype and Create the Future We Want^(https://books.google.com/books?id=T3EXEQAAQBAJ&pg=PP9&dq=%22p(doom)%22&hl=&cd=2&source=gbs_api#v=onepage&q=%22p(doom)%22&f=false), Random House, →ISBN

   Mountainhead plays out less like a drama between four tenuously connected, very rich friends, and more like a random word generator of tech and finance bro jargon – decel (deceleration, as in AI), p(doom) (the probability of an AI apocalypse), first principles.

   2025 June 2, Adrian Horton, “Tech-bro satire Mountainhead is an insufferable disappointment”, in The Guardian, →ISSN

plural P(doom)s · alternative doom

1. countableuncountableAlternative letter-case form of p(doom).

   For some experts, their P(doom) is AI taking over a power grid. For others, their P(doom) is AI leading to mass job loss. Others say their (P)doom^([sic]) is already happening now - right? - and it's AI supercharging the harms of social media, including the spread of misinformation.

   2023 May 30, Bobby Allyn, “Mitigating the risk of AI should be a global priority, open letter says”, in NPR