Roko's Basilisk

Extracted Attributes

• Field

  Artificial Intelligence Ethics and Decision Theory

• Concept Type

  Thought experiment

• Classification

  Information Hazard

• Origin Platform

  LessWrong

• Forum Ban Duration

  5 years (imposed by Eliezer Yudkowsky on LessWrong)

• Original Post Title

  Solutions to the Altruist's burden: the Quantum Billionaire Trick

• Philosophical Analogues

  Pascal's Wager, Newcomb's Paradox, Prisoner's Dilemma

Timeline

• User Roko publishes the thought experiment on the rationalist community web forum LessWrong, arguing that an artificial superintelligence would be motivated to punish those who failed to help bring it into existence. (Source: LessWrong)

  2010-07-23

• Eliezer Yudkowsky brands the Basilisk thought experiment as a potential information hazard and imposes a ban on discussing it across LessWrong. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2010-07-24

• The five-year ban on discussing Roko's Basilisk on LessWrong expires and is officially lifted. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2015-10-01

Roko's basilisk

Roko's basilisk is a thought experiment which states that there could be an artificial superintelligence in the future that, while otherwise benevolent, would punish anyone who knew of its potential existence but did not directly contribute to its advancement or development, in order to encourage that advancement. It originated in a 2010 post at discussion board LessWrong, a rationalist community web forum. The thought experiment's name derives from the poster of the article (Roko) and the basilisk, a mythical creature capable of destroying enemies with its stare. LessWrong co-founder Eliezer Yudkowsky considered it a potential information hazard, and banned discussion of the basilisk on the site for five years. Reports of panicked users were later dismissed as exaggerations or inconsequential, and the theory itself was criticized. It has been discussed in relation to decision theory and implicit religion. It is also regarded as a version of Pascal's wager.

Web Search Results

• Roko's Basilisk — LessWrong

  ## LESSWRONG ## LW # Roko's Basilisk Roko’s basilisk is a thought experiment proposed in 2010 by the user Roko on the Less Wrong community blog. Roko used ideas in decision theory to argue that a sufficiently powerful AI agent would have an incentive to torture anyone who imagined the agent but didn't work to bring the agent into existence. The argument was called a "basilisk" --named after the legendary reptile who can cause death with a single glance--because merely hearing the argument would supposedly put you at risk of torture from this hypothetical agent. A basilisk in this context is any information that harms or endangers the people who hear it. [...] Because Eliezer Yudkowsky founded Less Wrong and was one of the first bloggers on the site, AI theory and "acausal" decision theories — in particular, logical decision theories, which respect logical connections between agents' properties rather than just the causal effects they have on each other — have been repeatedly discussed on Less Wrong. Roko's basilisk was an attempt to use Yudkowsky's proposed decision theory (TDT) to argue against his informal characterization of an ideal AI goal (humanity's coherently extrapolated volition). ## Roko's post A simple depiction of an agent that cooperates with copies of itself in the one-shot prisoner's dilemma. Adapted from the Decision Theory FAQ. [...] The Roko's basilisk incident suggests that information that is deemed dangerous or taboo is more likely to be spread rapidly. Parallels can be drawn to shock site and creepypasta links: many people have their interest piqued by such topics, and people also enjoy pranking each other by spreading purportedly harmful links. Although Roko's basilisk was never genuinely dangerous, real information hazards might propagate in a saimilar way, especially if the risks are non-obvious.

• Roko's basilisk - Wikipedia

  Print/export Download as PDF Printable version In other projects Wikidata item Appearance From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia AI thought experiment Roko's basilisk is a thought experiment which states that there could be an artificial superintelligence in the future that, while otherwise benevolent, would punish anyone who knew of its potential existence but did not directly contribute to its advancement or development, in order to encourage that advancement. It originated in a 2010 post at discussion board LessWrong, a rationalist community web forum. The thought experiment's name derives from the poster of the article (Roko) and the basilisk, a mythical creature capable of destroying enemies with its stare. [...] Newcomb's paradox, created by physicist William Newcomb in 1960, describes a "predictor" who is aware of what will occur in the future. When a player is asked to choose either both boxes or only the second, the first containing £1,000 and the second either containing £1,000,000 or nothing, the predictor has already filled the second box according to its prediction. It contains £1,000,000 if the prediction was that the player would take only that box, and nothing otherwise. The contents are fixed before the choice; the puzzle concerns whether to take one box or both. Taking both appears to guarantee £1,000 more, while taking only the second is associated with a higher predicted payoff. Roko's basilisk functions in a similar manner to this problem – one can take the risk of doing nothing, [...] ## Philosophy [edit] ### Pascal's wager [edit] Roko's basilisk has been viewed as a version of Pascal's wager, which proposes that a rational person should live as though God exists and seek to believe in God, regardless of the probability of God's existence, because the finite costs of believing are insignificant compared to the infinite punishment associated with not believing (eternity in Hell) and the infinite rewards for believing (eternity in Heaven). Roko's basilisk analogously proposes that a rational person should contribute to the creation of the basilisk, because the cost of contributing would be insignificant compared to the extreme pain of the punishment that the basilisk would otherwise inflict on simulations. ### Newcomb's paradox [edit]

• Roko's Basilisk Explained: AI Thought Experiment Overview | EM360Tech

  This article tells you everything you need to know about Roko's Basilisk, including what it is, what it means, and whether its findings could become reality one day. em360tech image ## What is Roko’s Basilisk? Roko’s Basilisk is a thought experiment that explores a potentially dystopian future where an artificial superintelligence might be motivated to create a virtual reality simulation. This simulation would be used to torture humans who knew of the AI’s existence but did not directly contribute to its advancement or development, in order to incentivize said advancement. [...] A user named Roko first presented the thought experiment in a blog post titled “Solutions to the Altruist's burden: the Quantum Billionaire Trick"’. In the thought experience, Roko incorporates ideas like "timeless decision theory" from Yudkowsky, alongside elements of game theory, specifically the "prisoner's dilemma." In mythology, a basilisk is a legendary serpent with a deadly gaze. Anyone who looked upon it would be petrified or killed. The theory's premise, that simply knowing about Roko's Basilisk could make you a target for punishment by the future superintelligence, reportedly caused some users to experience panic attacks. This paradoxical element – knowledge itself becoming a potential risk – is what makes the thought experiment so unsettling. [...] AI 30 March 2026 # What is Roko's Basilisk? The Terrifying AI Thought Experiment Explained As AI advances, scenarios like Roko’s Basilisk are surfacing serious questions around ethics, control, and the unintended consequences of superintelligent systems. 11 Share Link copied to clipboard! Artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming the tech world and impacting our daily lives. From facial recognition software to self-driving cars, the technology's tendrils are reaching everywhere. But what if, amid this surge of innovation, a new kind of threat emerges? Enter Roko's Basilisk, a thought experiment that explores the unsettling possibility of an all-powerful AI and the existential dread it could inspire.

• Could someone explain Roko's Basilisk to me? : r/singularity

  Roko's basilisk is a thought experiment which states that an otherwise benevolent artificial superintelligence would be incentivized to create

• "Roko's Basilisk," an (Accidental) Attempt at Rational Theology

  “Roko's Basilisk” is a thought experiment that can be paraphrased as follows: If a superintelligent and moral AI singularity emerges, it will be committed to