Artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence is central to s-risk discussions because it may eventually enable powerful actors to control vast technological systems. In a worst-case scenario, AI could be used to create systems of perpetual suffering, such as a totalitarian regime expanding across space. Additionally, s-risks might arise incidentally, such as through AI-driven simulations of conscious beings experiencing suffering, or from economic activities that disregard the well-being of nonhuman or digital minds.
Phil Torres argues that space colonization poses significant "suffering risks", where expansion into space will lead to the creation of diverse civilizations and post-human species with conflicting interests. These differences, combined with advanced weaponry and the vast distances between civilizations slowing communications, could result in catastrophic and unresolvable conflicts. Strategies like a "cosmic Leviathan" to impose order or deterrence policies are constrained by the physics of space and the destructive power of future technologies. Torres believes that space colonization should be delayed or avoided altogether. Magnus Vinding's "astronomical atrocity problem" questions whether vast amounts of happiness can justify extreme suffering from space colonization. He highlights moral concerns such as diminishing returns on positive goods, the potentially incomparable weight of severe suffering, and the priority of preventing misery. He argues that if colonization is inevitable, it should be led by agents deeply committed to minimizing harm.
Malevolent actors and ideologies File:Typology of s-risks.png|thumb|A classification of s-risks by cause. == Mitigation strategies ==