Understanding, anticipating and managing the societal instability that can be caused by AI and related technologies

An opportunity to attend an exclusive preview immediately before COP30 in Brazil for a new initiative created in partnership between Theia Finance Labs and the Oxford Sustainable Finance Group.

‘Silicon Boundaries’ are a set of thresholds where the benefits of AI and related technologies are outweighed by their contributions to societal instability. This concept mirrors the notion of planetary boundaries.

There is growing evidence that a set of technologies powered by compute and silicon create societal risks, from loneliness and stranded labour to polarisation and the environmental impacts of compute. ‘Silicon Boundaries’ breached temporarily or even permanently could have significant implications for economic, financial, and political systems at different scales, from national to global.

While society can potentially dynamically expand silicon boundaries through political, cultural, economic, legal, behavioural, and technological responses, where society decides to constrain AI as a response, stranded assets could be created exposing financial markets and the economy to a Silicon Bubble. Such a scenario is more realistic and would be more impactful than the hypothesised Carbon Bubble.

AI and related technologies have huge potential for good, but they may also cause society to breach different thresholds. Crossing silicon boundaries may also lead to irreversible ‘tipping points’ at which point society cannot recover.

To preview our initiative, we will be hosting an event on Wednesday 5th November from 1630-1800 in central São Paulo followed by a drinks reception.

Apply to join our event here. Places will be extremely limited so we encourage early expressions of interest. You can also join the Silicon Boundaries mailing list here.