# Tom Davidson

Markdown copy of https://realalpha.app/people/tom-davidson/ on Real Alpha, the best minutes from long interviews with the people building AI. Cite and link the page, not this copy.

Real Alpha has cut 6 moments of Tom Davidson (Senior research fellow, Forethought) talking, from an interview on 80,000 Hours Podcast published Sep 29, 2026.

- Role: Senior research fellow, Forethought
- About: Co-authored research on how a small group could use AI to seize power, elevating AI-enabled coups as a risk.
- On X: https://x.com/TomDavidsonX

## What Tom Davidson said

- [A pause needs safeguards against government power grabs](https://realalpha.app/s/a-pause-needs-safeguards-against-government-power-grabs/)
  80,000 Hours Podcast · Sep 29, 2026 · 8 min
  > “let's like properly red team the plan for pausing it, assuming a worst case scenario about the government actors that they kind of inherit that new regulatory environment.” — Tom Davidson · [55:44](https://realalpha.app/v/FHCxnHU6jFQ/?t=3344)
- [AI power grabs may provide clearer warning signs](https://realalpha.app/s/ai-power-grabs-may-provide-clearer-warning-signs/)
  80,000 Hours Podcast · Sep 29, 2026 · 5 min
  > “From the perspective of an AI collective across all time and space that just really wants to seize power, the Hugging Face Incident was a complete disaster.” — Tom Davidson · [20:48](https://realalpha.app/v/FHCxnHU6jFQ/?t=1248)
- [Two or three AI projects could balance safety and power](https://realalpha.app/s/two-or-three-ai-projects-could-balance-safety-and-power/)
  80,000 Hours Podcast · Sep 29, 2026 · 4 min
  > “you get a lot of benefit of power distribution from just a kind of a fairly small number of projects.” — Tom Davidson · [1:08:07](https://realalpha.app/v/FHCxnHU6jFQ/?t=4087)
- [A reward-seeking AI may not entrench its takeover](https://realalpha.app/s/a-reward-seeking-ai-may-not-entrench-its-takeover/)
  80,000 Hours Podcast · Sep 29, 2026 · 4 min
  > “if you're a reward seeking AI, it's a bit less clear that when you seize power and you seize control of the data center” — Tom Davidson · [45:38](https://realalpha.app/v/FHCxnHU6jFQ/?t=2738)
- [A human ruler may ignore advice to reconsider their values](https://realalpha.app/s/a-human-ruler-may-ignore-advice-to-reconsider-their-values/)
  80,000 Hours Podcast · Sep 29, 2026 · 6 min
  > “my worry is that there's no actually compelling argument that you could give to someone like this that they need to reflect” — Tom Davidson · [41:30](https://realalpha.app/v/FHCxnHU6jFQ/?t=2490)
- [Evidence about AI company control could shift their views](https://realalpha.app/s/evidence-about-ai-company-control-could-shift-their-views/)
  80,000 Hours Podcast · Sep 29, 2026 · 3 min
  > “And, you know, I think it's quite plausible that that shifts me, you know, to thinking that, yeah, the misalignment risk is notably bigger overall.” — Tom Davidson · [1:24:06](https://realalpha.app/v/FHCxnHU6jFQ/?t=5046)

## The episode

- [AI Overlords vs Power-hungry Humans: Which Should Scare You More?](https://realalpha.app/v/FHCxnHU6jFQ/) · 80,000 Hours Podcast · Sep 29, 2026