Abstract

Some forms of Artificial Intelligence (AI) may kill us all, or at least irremediably maim our hopes to enjoy the benefits of significant technological advances in the future – or so some philosophers working on existential risk to humanity have recently claimed. B ut what do ‘us’ or ‘our’ stand for in this context – and why could the extension of these terms not include, say, (superintelligent) AI systems as well? I explore several foundational issues in the recent debates on existential risks related to AI, with a particular focus on the conceptual connections between ontological theories of our nature – answers to the question, ‘What am I?’ – and recent formulations of the notion of an existential risk for humanity.