AI-enabled power concentration

A small group using AI it controls to seize or entrench power.

Facts

Lane: Trust and governance
Wave: 10 of 12 (build order, not a date)
Needs: 23 boxes all the way back through hard links
Unlocks: 0 boxes downstream through hard links
Cluster: Oversight and alignment

Evidence as of October 2026

Forethought describes how singular loyalties, secret loyalties and exclusive access could let a small group seize power. AI 2040 warns one group could control “the world’s only army of superintelligences for months”.

Around it

Needs · 2

Military AI and autonomystage · Emerging
Superhuman AI researcherstage · Speculative

Unlocks · 0

Nothing further on the map.

Brakes

Works against this box

Secret-loyalty and backdoor auditscapability (detail) · Emerging

This box works against

Legitimate governancecapability · Speculative
Human influence preservedcapability · Speculative

Loops and off-ramps

Capex pullbackoff-ramp · cut off
Taiwan chip disruptionoff-ramp · cut off
Power shortfalloff-ramp · cut off
Capability plateauoff-ramp · cut off
Training data ruled outoff-ramp · slowed
Alignment failure in deploymentoff-ramp · cut off