Stuart Russell warns AI arms race is 'Russian roulette' with humanity

UC Berkeley AI researcher Stuart Russell told AFP at the India AI Summit that "for governments to allow private entities to essentially play Russian roulette with every human being on earth is a total dereliction of duty." He believes unregulated AI development could lead to human extinction. Russell, co-author of the leading AI textbook, argued that while tech CEOs race to build the next best model, they ignore or gloss over catastrophic risks. He called for government intervention before the competition devolves into Cold War-style dynamics.

View full digest for February 19, 2026