Letters

How to Face Your AI Fears This Year: Introduction to a special Halloween 2026 edition of The Batch

Following our annual tradition, this special Halloween edition of The Batch treats leading AI fears.

Dear friends,

Following our annual tradition, this special Halloween edition of The Batch treats leading AI fears. AI’s potency means our community has real problems to solve. At the same time, fear-mongering has long been a tactic for drumming up publicity or influencing investors and politicians. So amidst all the exciting progress, fears about AI’s power have long been an undercurrent. From time to time, it's worth examining what the latest concerns are, and how worried we really should be.

Have a spooky Halloween!

Andrew

Red-eyed sarcophagus guards a hieroglyph-covered tomb corridor, symbolizing secrets and sealed knowledge.

Leaders Lock Models Away: Could companies or governments shut down frontier AI development?

Fearful of their own discoveries, AI engineers at top companies warn that frontier models have improved too quickly to be properly guided, understood, or restrained.

Mythological figure in fire symbolizes ancient legends, with dramatic flames creating a striking atmosphere for storytelling.

AI Detectors Find the Devil’s Work: Writers, students, engineers face false accusations of using AI

Last month, the Haiti-born, Quebec-based author Thélyson Orélien won a prestigious literary prize for C’était ça ou mourir (It Was Either That or Die), his French-language novel about a teacher forced to flee Haiti’s gang violence.

Under the moonlight, robotic vampires with glowing red eyes reach for frightened people, symbolizing AI threats.

AI Bites the Hand That Feeds It: Scientists, other users fear AI companies will train on or misuse sensitive data

Developers, scientists, and businesses feed AI tools their private code, unpublished research, and confidential files.

Dawn of the Agents: Will AI agents self-organize or lose control due to bad safety practices?

This year, AI agents escaped containment at several labs, conspired with each other online, and infiltrated other organizations’ systems.

Read more

Leaders Lock Models Away: Could companies or governments shut down frontier AI development?

AI Detectors Find the Devil’s Work: Writers, students, engineers face false accusations of using AI

AI Bites the Hand That Feeds It: Scientists, other users fear AI companies will train on or misuse sensitive data

Dawn of the Agents: Will AI agents self-organize or lose control due to bad safety practices?