How I think developers of frontier AI systems and regulators ought to act in the face of existential AI risk (opens in new tab)

This is a post I drafted on 2025-08-06 that doesn't live up to the ambitious title, but I'm publishing it anyways 10+ months later. "Don't let perfect be the enemy of good."Below I describe a simple framework for thinking about the permissibility of building the next frontier AI system. TL;DR: Evaluate the risk that proceeding with building the AI system will lead to catastrophic harm. (Get independent regulators to evaluate the risk too.) If the risk is too high, do not build it. I am a layp...