Speaking to The Verge, CSER’s Shahar Avin, a postdoc researcher who managed the Civilization project, says the intent in creating the mod was part educational, and part research. The research group was founded in 2012, and is dedicated to exploring various global catastrophes capable of collapsing civilization or wiping out humanity altogether - otherwise known as “existential threats.” These include superintelligent AI (a computer program that becomes much, much more clever than humans and decides we are somehow superfluous to its needs), but also things like runaway climate change and bioengineered pandemics.

That’s why Cambridge University’s Centre for the Study of Existential Risk (CSER) has released a mod for popular strategy title Civilization V that’s all about mitigating the threat from superintelligent AI.ĬSER isn’t usually known for its gaming products.

Whether or not you think superintelligent AI poses a credible threat to humanity in the near future, you have to admit it’s a problem at least worth thinking about - or hey, maybe even playing a game about it.