By Sigal Samuel
Publication Date: 2026-05-28 10:30:00
“I want AI to be a tool that enables human flourishing!” exclaimed Brad Carson, a former member of Congress. “There Is an option out there where AI is just a tool for us.”
This is normal in most circles. But Carson was speaking at an invitation-only symposium dedicated to the idea of creating a “worthy successor” – an AI so impressive, so far beyond mere humans, that we’d actually want it to replace humanity.
“You are a brave man for entering this room!” Dan Faggella, an AI market researcher and symposium organizer, told Carson. “You are probably in the only room in the country where most people disagree with you.”
Participants at the symposium, held last September at the New York Academy of Sciences, are part of an increasingly important subculture: the AI successors, who believe that artificial intelligence is our rightful heir – the next step in cosmic evolution. Because they believe AIs could become our morals…
