--- title: "Top AI Safety Researcher Says He’s Stopped Saving for Retirement Because He’s So Sure We’re All Going to Die" description: "AI researcher Nate Soares claims that he no longer saves for retirement due to the certainty of an AI apocalypse." date: "2026-10-28" modified: "2026-10-28" authors: - name: "Joe Wilkins" job_title: "Correspondent" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jwilkins.md" url: "https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/ai-researcher-retirement-savings" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" - "Finance" - "Future Society" - "Investing" - "Machine Learning" --- # Top AI Safety Researcher Says He’s Stopped Saving for Retirement Because He’s So Sure We’re All Going to Die ![A photograph of AI safety researcher Nate Soares.]() *Nate Soares via Facebook* In the troubling view of machine learning researcher Nate Soares, AI is more likely than not to wipe out humanity within the next decade. At least, that's what Soares said during a recent episode of [the *Atlantic*'s podcast]() "The Most Interesting Thing in AI." During the taping, the AI researcher and president of the Machine Intelligence Research Institute even said that he's so confident in the coming AI apocalypse that he's stopped contributing to his retirement account. "I do not save for retirement right now," Soares explained during the interview. "I have a 401(k) from when I worked at Google, but I haven't contributed for a decade." The AI guru evidently pegs the possibility of AI-driven extinction at over 50 percent over the next ten years, a remarkably bold prediction of a future which Soares is evidently working hard to prevent. "I do everything I can to stop this eventuality," he said. "I don't think it's inevitable." Soares is well-known in the AI research space as a prolific doom-monger — a schtick which is starting to [play on a loop](). At MIRI, he operates as Elizier Yudkowsky's right-hand man, pushing alarmist tales which have secured the pair high-profile media appearances, book deals, and direct access to politicians. As [critics have noted](), though both Soares and Yudkowsky have spent much time fretting about an AI apocalypse, there's no consensus that such a future is even possible — let alone probable. There are plenty of reasons to be pessimistic about AI. The technology has already been used to [bomb elementary school students](), [scam seniors](), and drive [dozens of vulnerable]() [users to suicide](). AI doesn't need to be superintelligent to do any of that — and if we all focus on the harms technology *may* cause down the road, it becomes easy to overlook the harms it's causing in the here and now. As for saving your pennies for your retirement? Well, it's like [some AI doomers say]() — it's probably better to play it safe and contribute to your savings, rather than take the chance at being sorry you didn't. Look at it this way: if AI kills us all, it won't really matter anyway. **More on AI safety:** *[Godfathers of AI Say Models Are So Out of Control That They Need to Be Airgapped for the Safety of Us All]()* ## Author At Futurism, I focus on the intersection of technology and power — examining the economics, history, and politics behind today’s dystopian headlines. As a writer, I’m interested in topics ranging from AI’s impact on labor to startups nobody asked for. My prior work includes bylines in Jacobin, Verso, and Blue Labyrinths. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Forbes, The Guardian, MIT Technology Review, Time, The Nation, Mother Jones, The Verge, and Wired. I grew up in Michigan, attending Central Michigan University as well as Ball State University, where I earned a master of music. I now live in Brooklyn with my girlfriend and our cat Ziti. On weekends, you can find me hunched over a cold pint arguing geopolitics with the other transplants. ### Author social links [Bluesky]() ## More - [AI Expert: “I Think We’re All Going to Die”]() - [AI Experts No Longer Saving for Retirement Because They Assume AI Will Kill Us All by Then]() - [Skype Co-Founder Desperate to Stop AI From Destroying Humanity]() - [Man “Sure” His AI Girlfriend Will Save Him When the Robots Take Over]() - [Machine Learning Expert Calls for Bombing Data Centers to Stop Rise of AI]() - [AI May Destroy Humankind in Just Two Years, Expert Says]() - [Nvidia CEO Begs Execs to Stop Telling Workers They’re Fired Because of AI]() - [Ready To Work Until You Die? Economists Recommend Delaying Retirement To Afford Old Age]()