Much ink has been spilt on the war against “wokeness”—personified by Donald Trump’s historic comeback in 2024.
Americans have seen political pundits proclaim that “woke is dead,” pointing to the Gulf of America, DOGE, and even Sydney Sweeney as proof points. Most recently, The New York Times called an end to Hollywood’s “woke era,” noting that the proxy culture war in entertainment has finally run its course.
While I have personal doubts about the death of wokeness, celebratory conservatism misses the forest for the trees. The conservatives and libertarians currently jeering and heckling their left-wing adversaries are ignoring a far more existential threat: The emergence of generative artificial intelligence, followed by artificial general intelligence (AGI) on par with human ability, and quite possibly superintelligence after that.
What comes after AI superiority? We are not ready to ask this question, and that leaves us critically unprepared for whatever the answer may be. This puts humanity (and conservatives) at a major disadvantage. It may be difficult to look past a daily barrage of Truth Social posts and apocalyptic mainstream media headlines, but the usual political cycle—what we have come to know as the fight in American politics—pales in comparison to a more challenging fight. Whether the war against wokeness has been won or not, the most important victory in human history may have to come against Silicon Valley’s ideations for all-powerful AI.
The race to end humanity as we know it should be top of mind for conservatives, libertarians, classical liberals, progressives – all of us – and yet we are ignoring Big Tech’s own warnings. Dating back to 2017 and earlier, AI acolytes have been blunt, “What is going to be created [as AI] will effectively be a god…not a god in the sense that it makes lightning or causes hurricanes. But if there is something a billion times smarter than the smartest human, what else are you going to call it?”
In 2024, Mistral CEO Arthur Mensch admitted the obsession with creating general AI is about “creating God.” Fast forward to 2026, and Elon Musk is predicting a “supersonic tsunami” leading to a “technological singularity” whereby AI iterates beyond human comprehension.
Outside of Silicon Valley, some of America’s brightest minds are voicing their concerns. Just this month, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon warned that the rapid roll-out of AI throughout society will cause “civil unrest” unless the public and private sectors work together on effective safeguards. In his words, we might have to “save society.”
We already live in a world where AI chatbots—led by ChatGPT, quite literally a top mental health provider—are encouraging impressionable young adults to commit suicide, and some are tragically following through. We already live in a world where global leaders are bracing for a layoff “tsunami,” with tens of thousands of jobs cut at the very least in 2025. (Other estimates suggest exponentially more.)
And we already live in a world where the federal government has formed an alliance with Big Tech, as the U.S.-based NVIDIA sells its ultra-powerful chips to the Chinese Communist Party with the president’s blessing and White House “AI czar” David Sacks telling U.S. citizens to just trust the technologists.
If America is indeed looking for a bipartisan moment, AI policy is it. From Democrats to Republicans, radical leftists to white nationalists, we have no choice but to see the battle in front of us. The race to achieve AGI and superintelligence in the near future is a race to replace humanity with something else entirely, and it’s telling that Pope Leo is just as concerned as Jamie Dimon or Sam Altman. All the while, Silicon Valley sprints ahead with countless billions of dollars for research and development.
The pendulum is swinging. Political alliances are reforming. Nothing matters on the scale of Silicon Valley’s quest for an AI-led future. Strong, thoughtful leadership from our elected officials has never been more important, but their silence is frightening.
There is a glimmer of hope bubbling up across America. According to poll after poll, most Americans are skeptical of Big Tech’s cozy ties to Big Government. Parents are speaking out about AI’s negative impact on childhood. And these are starting points for a bipartisan movement to save humanity.
Enough of the petty politics. The AI tsunami is coming, and its waves are crashing on all of us.
Peyton Hornberger serves as Communications Director at The Alliance for Secure AI (@secureainow), a nonprofit organization that educates the public about the implications of advanced artificial intelligence.