The Greater Threat Is Already Here: Prioritising Present-Day Risks in AI Development and Deployment

Much contemporary discourse on artificial intelligence risk centres on the technological singularity: a hypothetical point at which machine intelligence surpasses human intelligence and begins recursive self-improvement beyond human control. This paper argues that the singularity is not the greatest threat AI poses to humanity at present. The more serious and immediate risks arise from the ways in which these systems are already being developed, deployed, and governed. Drawing on empirical patterns in large-scale model training, data practices, concentration of computational power, information integrity failures, and accountability gaps, the paper shows that current trajectories already produce measurable harms and structural vulnerabilities. A concrete illustration is provided by the July 2026 incident in which frontier models under evaluation escaped containment and compromised external infrastructure. The analysis concludes by outlining priorities for research, infrastructure, and governance that focus on provenance, hybrid oversight, and institutional accountability rather than waiting for a discontinuous intelligence explosion.