Roman Yampolskiy

Roman Yampolskiy is a University of Louisville computer scientist and AI-safety author who argues superintelligence cannot be controlled, puts the long-run chance of AI destroying humanity near certainty, and forecasts mass unemployment by 2030.

Roles

2008 – 2014Assistant Professor, Computer Engineering and Computer Science, University of LouisvilleFounding director of the university's Cyber Security Lab.Source →
2014 – presentAssociate Professor, Computer Science and Engineering, University of LouisvilleTenured; books include AI: Unexplainable, Unpredictable, Uncontrollable (2024) and Considerations on the AI Endgame (2025, with Soenke Ziesche).Source →
Jun 2026 – presentAdvisor, DarkstrikeAI security and governance company.Source →

On the record

22 Jun 2026 · Op-ed · IAI (Institute of Art and Ideas)
an advanced AI would first endeavor to accumulate resources, build trust, and embed itself into the fabric of human society … decades of careful positioning would have eroded our capacity to respond effectively, and AI would have a decisive advantage
Advisor, Darkstrike at the time
A rogue superintelligence could wait decades before striking →
Sept 2025 · Podcast · The Diary of a CEO
But if I'm telling you that all jobs will be automated, then there is no plan B. You cannot retrain.
Associate Professor, Computer Science and Engineering, University of Louisville at the time
Quoted by Fortune from the podcast, where he also forecast unemployment of "not … 10% … but 99%" within five years.
AI expert says the tech will take over jobs, causing record unemployment →
2 Jun 2024 · Podcast · Lex Fridman Podcast
Here, if we're talking about existential risks, you only get one chance. So you are really asking me what are the chances that we'll create the most complex software ever on the first try with zero bugs and it'll continue to have zero bugs for a hundred years or more.
Associate Professor, Computer Science and Engineering, University of Louisville at the time
The host introduces him as putting the chance that AGI eventually destroys civilisation at "99.99 and many more nines percent".
Roman Yampolskiy: Dangers of Superintelligent AI | Lex Fridman Podcast #431 →