“Additional Research for Plan A” by Thomas Larsen
“Additional Research for Plan A” by Thomas Larsen  
Podcast: LessWrong (30+ Karma)
Published On: Sat Jul 11 2026
Description: Yesterday we released AI 2040: Plan A, but there's lots of work left to do. We still have tons of uncertainty about the future of AI and the best strategies for how humanity can successfully chart a path through the intelligence explosion. You can read much of our current thinking on the supplements page. In this post, I'll outline some research areas related to the feasibility/desirability of Plan A that I am excited about further research into. We at AI Futures Project will do some of this work ourselves, so if you’re making a serious attempt, please get in touch. (Or apply to work with us directly). (Note that many of the below proposals are only relevant in something like a Plan A world where we’ve slowed the intelligence explosion massively). Write Additional Prescriptive Scenarios  There are many other proposals for how to navigate the intelligence explosion. Some of these plans are promising, some less so. However, none of them have been publicly gamed out in scenario format in nearly as much depth as Plan A. Instead, they tend to operate at a more abstract level that attempts to be consistent with many possible [...] ---Outline:(00:55) Write Additional Prescriptive Scenarios(03:55) Covert Project Further Research(05:45) US Domestic Governance(07:31) Verification(08:22) Economics(10:23) Various Plan A Details(13:58) Conclusion --- First published: July 10th, 2026 Source: https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/B4qMZnB4a5YgKiLNo/additional-research-for-plan-a --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.