intelligence curse
In plain wordsThe worry that once AI can do most jobs, governments and companies will no longer need ordinary people and so will stop looking after them, like oil-rich states that neglect their citizens.
A predicted dynamic in which AI able to replace most human labor removes the incentives that lead powerful actors, such as states and companies, to invest in and answer to ordinary people, so that most people lose economic leverage, political influence and eventually well-being. The name and argument draw on the resource curse: states that earn their income from oil or minerals rather than from taxing productive citizens tend to underinvest in them and to be less accountable to them. With AI as the main source of production, the authors argue, similar incentives could take hold everywhere, and the replacement of entry-level workers could also close the usual routes by which people build skills and capital. They propose to avert catastrophes that would justify centralization, to diffuse AI capabilities widely among individuals, and to democratize institutions so that they stay anchored to human needs.
If tax revenue stops depending on workers, the intelligence curse says governments will stop depending on them too.
Origin
Introduced in 2025 by Luke Drago and Rudolf Laine, whose essay series The Intelligence Curse (intelligence-curse.ai) set out the argument; it draws on Laine's late-2024 essay 'By default, capital will matter more than ever after AGI'. Exact first-use date not established.
Related
- gradual disempowermentgradual disempowerment, n.: The risk that, as AI does more and more of the work people now do, humanity slowly loses its grip on business, government and culture, until it no longer steers its own future.
- technological unemploymenttechnological unemployment, n.: Joblessness caused by machines or software taking over work that people used to be paid for, faster than new kinds of work appear for them.
- concentration of powerconcentration of power, n.: The worry that AI will put enormous economic, political or military power in the hands of a few companies, governments or individuals, beyond the reach of ordinary checks and balances.
- explosive growthexplosive growth, n.: A hypothetical jump in the world economy's growth rate to 30% a year or more, about ten times today's pace, which some economists think AI that replaces human workers could cause.
- automationautomation, n.: Using machines or software to do work that people would otherwise do, from factory robots to programs that sort email or write reports.
- successionismsuccessionism, n.: The view that it would be acceptable, or even good, for AI to replace humanity as the main bearer of intelligence and value on Earth, as our successors.
Sources
- Drago, L. & Laine, R. (2025). The Intelligence Curse. Essay series. intelligence-curse.ai
Mentioned in
concentration of powerconcentration of power, n.: The worry that AI will put enormous economic, political or military power in the hands of a few companies, governments or individuals, beyond the reach of ordinary checks and balances., gradual disempowermentgradual disempowerment, n.: The risk that, as AI does more and more of the work people now do, humanity slowly loses its grip on business, government and culture, until it no longer steers its own future., technological unemploymenttechnological unemployment, n.: Joblessness caused by machines or software taking over work that people used to be paid for, faster than new kinds of work appear for them., universal basic incomeuniversal basic income, n.: A regular cash payment from the government to every adult, with no conditions attached, sometimes proposed as a way to share wealth if AI takes over much paid work.