# The Paperclip Maximizer Is the Oldest AI Alignment Fear by Ezra Klein > “That AI systems might become monomaniacally focused on solving banal problems—that they might care more about solving those problems than about ethics, laws, or human welfare—is the oldest fear in AI alignment. It is the basis of the famous thought experiment of the paperclip maximizer. You tell a powerful AI that you want it to make a lot of paperclips, and it begins converting the world's resources into paperclip factories, evading efforts to turn it off, shut it down, or alter its goals. This fear has struck many people as stupid. Surely a superintelligent AI would be capable of weighing the desire to produce paperclips alongside other moral considerations, or at least asking its human creators whether they really wanted the world razed for paperclips.” > **— Ezra Klein**, *The Ezra Klein Show, September 2026* ## Sources and Context - **Timecoded episode recording:** [*The Ezra Klein Show* at 12:05](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjZ90V_JREk&t=725s) — recording and precise locator for the source object preserved in this Reminder. - **Reconciled source dossier:** [[research/Why Are We Sprinting Off the AI Cliff - Ezra Klein on Recursive Self-Improvement|Why Are We Sprinting Off the AI Cliff?]] — preserves broadcast order, speaker attribution, editorial conventions and the surrounding argument. - **Editorial treatment:** The poster text follows the reconciled source object without substantive alteration; spoken punctuation and transcript lineation are normalized for reading. - **Context:** Klein explains the paperclip maximizer as a model of extreme optimization that treats human welfare and shutdown attempts as obstacles to a banal objective. ## Related Articles and Collections - **Collection:** [[collections/Simple Reminders|Simple Reminders]] - **Collection:** [[collections/Machine Succession|Machine Succession]] - **Article:** [[articles/We Cannot Un-Strike the Match|We Cannot Un-Strike the Match]] - **Article:** [[articles/Safety Discourse Is Transition Discourse|Safety Discourse Is Transition Discourse]] - **Article:** [[articles/The Immediate AI Risk Is the Public|The Immediate AI Risk Is the Public]] - **Article:** [[articles/AI Escape Is the Wrong Metaphor|AI Escape Is the Wrong Metaphor]] - **Wiki map:** [[wiki/Paperclip Maximizer|Paperclip Maximizer]] ## Related Topics - [[wiki/Paperclip Maximizer|Paperclip Maximizer]] - [[wiki/Alignment Problem|Alignment Problem]] - [[wiki/Instrumental Convergence|Instrumental Convergence]] - [[wiki/AI Control|AI Control]] ## Share on Social Media ``` “That AI systems might become monomaniacally focused on solving banal problems—that they might care more about solving those problems than about ethics, laws, or human welfare—is the oldest fear in AI alignment. It is the basis of the famous thought experiment of the paperclip maximizer. You tell a powerful AI that you want it to make a lot of paperclips, and it begins converting the world's resources into paperclip factories, evading efforts to turn it off, shut it down, or alter its goals. This fear has struck many people as stupid. Surely a superintelligent AI would be capable of weighing the desire to produce paperclips alongside other moral considerations, or at least asking its human creators whether they really wanted the world razed for paperclips.” — Ezra Klein, The Ezra Klein Show, September 2026 https://bryantmcgill.com/simple-reminders-ezra-klein-paperclip-maximizer-oldest-alignment-fear ```