Introducing Intelligence Age

OpenAI's Strategic Futures team launched Intelligence Age to address concentration of power risks, the idea that AI systems could allow states to project force and collect revenue without needing human cooperation, potentially removing ordinary people from political decision-making. Historically, political power has depended on soldiers, police, and bureaucrats (human workers whose cooperation was needed), but autonomous systems and machine intelligence could change this by automating force projection and eliminating the need for human labor or tax revenue from workers. The team argues that preserving human freedom requires preventing this concentration of power, as technological progress is not worth sacrificing long-term individual autonomy.