--- title: "OpenAI’s Top Scientist Wanted to “Build a Bunker Before We Release AGI”" description: "OpenAI's former chief scientist Ilya Sutskever has long been preparing for AGI — and he discussed with coworkers doomsday prep plans." date: "2025-05-22" modified: "2025-05-22" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/openai-scientists-agi-bunker" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" - "OpenAI" tags: - "agi" - "ilya sutskever" - "OpenAI" - "the digest" --- # OpenAI’s Top Scientist Wanted to “Build a Bunker Before We Release AGI” ![OpenAI's former chief scientist Ilya Sutskever has long been preparing for AGI — and he discussed with coworkers doomsday prep plans.]() *\Image: Getty / Futurism\* ## Feel The AGI OpenAI's former chief scientist, Ilya Sutskever, has long been preparing for artificial general intelligence (AGI), an ill-defined industry term for the point at which human intellect is outpaced by algorithms — and he's got some wild plans for when that day may come. In [interviews with *The Atlantic*]()'s Karen Hao, who is writing a book about the unsuccessful November 2023 [ouster of CEO Sam Altman](), people close to Sutskever said that he seemed [mighty preoccupied with AGI](). According to a researcher who heard the [since-resigned company cofounder]() wax prolific about it during a summer 2023 meeting, an apocalyptic scenario seemed to be a foregone conclusion to Sutskever. "Once we all get into the bunker..." the chief scientist began. "I’m sorry," the researcher interrupted, "the bunker?" "We’re definitely going to build a bunker before we release AGI," Sutskever said, matter-of-factly. "Of course, it’s going to be optional whether you want to get into the bunker." The exchange highlights just how confident OpenAI's leadership was, [and remains](), in the technology that it [believes it's building]() — even though others argue that we are [nowhere near AGI]() and [may never get there](). ## Rapturous As theatrical as that exchange sounds, two other people present for the exchange confirmed that OpenAI's resident AGI soothsayer — who, notably, claimed months before ChatGPT's 2022 release that he believes some AI models are "[slightly conscious]()" — did indeed mention a bunker. "There is a group of people — Ilya being one of them — who believe that building AGI will bring about a rapture," the first researcher told Hao. "Literally, a rapture." As others who spoke to the author for her forthcoming book "Empire of AI" noted, Sutskever's AGI obsession had taken on a novel tenor by summer 2023. Aside from his interest in building AGI, he had also become concerned about the way OpenAI was handling the technology it was gestating. That concern ultimately led the mad scientist, alongside several other members of the company's board, to oust CEO Sam Altman a few months later, and ultimately to his own departure. Though Sutskever led the coup, his resolve, according to sources that *The Atlantic* spoke to, began to crack once he realized OpenAI's rank-and-file were falling in line behind Altman. He eventually rescinded his opinion that the CEO was not fit to lead in what seems to have been an effort to save his skin — an effort that, in the end, [turned out to be fruitless](). Interestingly, Hao also learned that people inside OpenAI had a nickname for the failed coup d'etat: "The Blip." **More on AGI:** [*Sam Altman Says OpenAI Has Figured Out How to Build AGI*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()