If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies
by Eliezer Yudkowsky
★ Top 5 book of 2025 · #5 on Best Books of 2025
Eliezer Yudkowsky and Nate Soares lay out the dangers they believe artificial superintelligence poses to humanity. The title states their blunt argument: that building superhuman AI would end in catastrophe for everyone.
Best for: Readers concerned about artificial intelligence risk and its consequences for humanity
If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies is #5 on BookWard's Best Books of 2025, out of 30 2025 books that cleared our data bar.
What If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies is about
Eliezer Yudkowsky and Nate Soares make a direct case that building artificial superintelligence could end humanity. They explain that today's AI systems are neural networks with billions or trillions of numerical weights that even their makers cannot read, so troubling behavior cannot simply be patched out like a bug in code. Because current methods do not let anyone choose what a superintelligent system wants, they argue its goals are very unlikely to match ours, and a machine indifferent to people would still want the resources people need. They liken our position to playing chess against Stockfish.
The authors call on leaders, scientists and ordinary citizens to speak up, and they urge worldwide coordination to halt large-scale general AI development, with narrow tools like AlphaFold possibly excepted. The tone is blunt and alarmed. It is for readers who want to understand the argument from the people who hold it, whether they end up convinced or not. (The UK edition is subtitled The Case Against Superintelligent AI.)
If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies on the Best Books of 2025
If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies came out in 2025. Of the 30 books first published in 2025 that met BookWard's data bar, it ranks #5 on our Best Books of 2025 list.
Why it made the list: 300 readers have shelved it on Open Library; its Wikipedia page averaged 22,034 views a month recently. The list ranks each year’s books on how many readers have picked them up, how highly readers rate them, and how many are reading them right now.
Nearby on the 2025 list
- Atmosphere Taylor Jenkins Reid, #3
- Onyx Storm Rebecca Yarros, #4
- Wild Dark Shore Charlotte McConaghy, #6
- Abundance Ezra Klein, #7
See all Best Books of 2025 Best books by year
More years: Best Books of 2024.
The numbers behind it
- Readers: 10 want to read it, 0 are reading it now and 4 have read it, according to Open Library.
- Wikipedia: its article averaged 22,034 views a month recently.
| Signal | This book (0 to 100) | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Reach | 90 | 45% |
| Reader love | 77 | 20% |
| Being read right now | 33 | 15% |
| Attention | 87 | 20% |
Questions about If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies
When was If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies published?
If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies by Eliezer Yudkowsky was first published in 2025.
Was If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies one of the best books of 2025?
If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies is #5 on BookWard's Best Books of 2025, out of 30 2025 books that cleared our data bar. 300 readers have shelved it on Open Library; its Wikipedia page averaged 22,034 views a month recently.
Why is If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies on the Best Books of 2025 list?
300 readers have shelved it on Open Library; its Wikipedia page averaged 22,034 views a month recently.
More of the best books of 2025
- The Secret of Secrets Dan Brown, #1
- Katabasis R. F. Kuang, #2
- Atmosphere Taylor Jenkins Reid, #3
- Onyx Storm Rebecca Yarros, #4
- Wild Dark Shore Charlotte McConaghy, #6
- Abundance Ezra Klein, #7
See the full Best Books of 2025, the Top 100, or new books on Rising.
How we know
This page uses public data: Open Library reader counts and ratings, and Wikipedia page views for recent years. The description is paraphrased from real source text. Rankings reflect reading interest, not quality or sales, and can be affected by data gaps. Lists update monthly.
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