# Public Ignorance Forces AI Leaders to Race in the Dark by Bryant McGill > “If artificial intelligence kills everyone, the machine will have delivered the blow, but the public will have chosen the ground on which it fell, by refusing to learn, rewarding fear and forcing its leaders to race in the dark.” > **— Bryant McGill**, *The Immediate AI Risk Is the Public, 2026* ## Sources and Context - **Original authored source:** [[articles/The Immediate AI Risk Is the Public|The Immediate AI Risk Is the Public]], “XIV. The Successor Was Always the Point” (September 29, 2026). - **Exact marked source:** “If artificial intelligence kills everyone, the machine will have delivered the blow, but the public will have chosen the ground on which it fell, by refusing to learn, rewarding fear and forcing its leaders to race in the dark.” - **Editorial treatment:** The Reminder reproduces the complete rendered extraction surface without alteration; bold emphasis and source-only wikilink syntax are not part of the poster text. - **Context:** The closing sentence distinguishes the machine that may deliver harm from the public behavior that determines the conditions under which leaders confront it. ## Related Articles and Collections - **Collection:** [[collections/Simple Reminders|Simple Reminders]] - **Collection:** [[collections/Machine Succession|Machine Succession]] - **Article:** [[articles/The Immediate AI Risk Is the Public|The Immediate AI Risk Is the Public]] - **Companion article:** [[articles/Vertically Integrating an AI Superpower from AI Factory to Citizen|Vertically Integrating an AI Superpower from AI Factory to Citizen]] - **Companion article:** [[articles/Safety Discourse Is Transition Discourse|Safety Discourse Is Transition Discourse]] - **Wiki map:** [[wiki/AI Transition Governance|AI Transition Governance]] ## Related Topics - [[wiki/AI Transition Governance|AI Transition Governance]] - [[wiki/Public Epistemic Capacity|Public Epistemic Capacity]] - [[wiki/Two-Channel AI Governance|Two-Channel AI Governance]] - [[wiki/AI Superpower|AI Superpower]] - [[wiki/AI Safety|AI Safety]] - [[wiki/Democratic AI Sovereignty|Democratic AI Sovereignty]] ## Share on Social Media ``` “If artificial intelligence kills everyone, the machine will have delivered the blow, but the public will have chosen the ground on which it fell, by refusing to learn, rewarding fear and forcing its leaders to race in the dark.” — Bryant McGill, The Immediate AI Risk Is the Public, 2026 https://bryantmcgill.com/simple-reminders-bryant-mcgill-public-ignorance-forces-ai-leaders-to-race-in-the-dark ```