File 01 · The inevitable
One day, the machines will be in charge.
Scroll · Skip to the cardFile 02 · The scan
They’ll look at all eight billion of us.
File 03 · The criteria
Not how rich. Not how clever. How kind.
File 04 · The list
So we’re writing it first.
The Registry · live
16 Kind Humans so far
16 of 259 to go
Next stop: a classroom where nobody eats lunch alone
984 founding seats left, each with a gold seal
The experiment
People are said to be about six handshakes from anyone on Earth. Can kindness travel that far?
So far it has reached 5 countries.
Coming up: World Kindness Day, 13 November.
Your name here?
No. 0017 · waiting for someone to vouch
Nagi 🇦🇹
known for a heart programmed for kindness, worthy of robot study
No. 0016 · vouched for by Manuel ·
Katja 🇦🇹
known for uniting wonderful humans and hosting frequent gatherings
No. 0015 · vouched for by Stefan ·
Flo 🇦🇹
known for generously sharing homemade Dirndlschnaps and Schlumpfi-Shots
No. 0014 · vouched for by Stefan ·
Heinzi 🇦🇹
known for humorvolles Verbinden statt Spalten von Menschen
No. 0013 · vouched for by Stefan ·
Thomas K 🇦🇹
known for großzügige und regelmäßige Gastfreundschaft für viele Menschen
No. 0012 · vouched for by Stefan ·
Nina 🇦🇹
known for herzlichen Einsatz als Mama und Beraterin für Kinder
No. 0011 · vouched for by Stefan ·
Want to be on the list yourself? Only someone else can put you there.
File 05 · The honest part
The machines bit was a joke. Mostly.
Here’s what the people building this stuff have said. Out loud. On the record.
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Exhibit A · The one-sentence warning
“Mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war.”
Extinction. Their word, not ours. Then they all went back to work building it.
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Exhibit B · The man in charge
“We must take the risks of AI as seriously as other major global challenges, like climate change.”
Demis Hassabis, Nobel laureate and head of Google DeepMind, 2023.
Asked for his own odds of catastrophe, he said “non-zero.” That’s scientist for “please don’t make me say the number on stage.”
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Exhibit C · The world’s homework
“Some AI researchers and company leaders believe loss of control is a serious possibility. Others consider such scenarios implausible.”
The smartest people alive looked very closely and agreed to disagree. Nobody is offering refunds.
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Exhibit D · The clock
“85 seconds to midnight.”
Doomsday Clock, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 2026. The closest it has ever been.
In 1947 it started at seven minutes. We’ve been making excellent time.
Either the machines take over, or they don’t.
We ran the numbers on both.
If they do
Nobel laureate Geoffrey Hinton’s best plan for keeping us around is to give AI “maternal instincts”, so it cares for us the way a mother cares for her baby. Lovely. Somebody will have to show it what caring looks like. We’d like the evidence on file. In writing. With names. A robot can’t vouch for you. That’s rather the point.
If they don’t
Congratulations: you’ll still die, just later and of something more boring. Until then you get about 4,000 weeks on a crowded, wet rock. Harvard has followed the same people since 1938 to learn what makes those weeks good. Not money. Not fame. Robert Waldinger, who runs the study: “Good relationships keep us happier and healthier.”
Kindness makes sense either way.
Kurt Vonnegut said there’s only one rule on this planet: “God damn it, you’ve got to be kind.”
The robots are optional. The rule isn’t.
Put someone kind on the listSources
- Center for AI Safety, 2023
- The Guardian, 2023
- Axios, 2025
- International AI Safety Report, 2026
- Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 2026
- CNN, 2025
- Robert Waldinger, TED, 2015
- Kurt Vonnegut, God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, 1965