AI Darwin Awards 2025

Summary

Days Since Last Verified AI catastrophe: --- See the Latest Nominees for 2025 When AI Meets Human Overconfidence What Are the AI Darwin Awards? Named after Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection, the original Darwin Awards celebrated those who "improved the gene pool by removing themselves from it" through spectacularly stupid acts. Well, guess what? Humans have evolved! We're now so advanced that we've outsourced our poor decision-making to machines. The AI Darwin Awards proudly continue this noble tradition by honouring the visionaries who looked at artificial intelligence—a technology capable of reshaping civilisation—and thought, "You know what this needs? Less safety testing and more venture capital!" These brave pioneers remind us that natural selection isn't just for biology anymore; it's gone digital, and it's coming for our entire species. Because why stop at individual acts of spectacular stupidity when you can scale them to global proportions with machine learning? Nomination Criteria Your nominee must demonstrate a breathtaking commitment to ignoring obvious risks: AI Involvement Required: Must involve cutting-edge artificial intelligence (or what they confidently called "AI" in their investor pitch deck). Catastrophic Potential: The decision must be so magnificently short-sighted that future historians will use it as a cautionary tale (assuming there are any historians left). Hubris Bonus Points: Extra credit for statements like "What's the worst that could happen?" or "The AI knows what it's doing!" Ethical Blind Spots: Demonstrated ability to completely ignore every red flag raised by ethicists, safety researchers, and that one intern who keeps asking uncomfortable questions. Scale of Ambition: Why endanger just yourself when you can endanger everyone? We particularly appreciate nominees who aimed for global impact on their first try. Winning Criteria Our distinguished panel of judges (and the occasional rogue AI) evaluates nominees based on: Me...