Abstract
The rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI) has generated profound philosophical questions concerning intelligence, agency, autonomy, responsibility, human values, technological power, and the future of humanity. Among contemporary philosophers, Nick Bostrom has provided one of the most systematic philosophical analyses of the long-term risks associated with advanced artificial intelligence. His conception of the problem is principally concerned with the possibility that artificial general intelligence may develop into superintelligence whose cognitive and strategic capacities surpass those of human beings. The central difficulty, according to Bostrom, is not merely whether machines can think, but whether humanity can retain meaningful control over machines that may eventually become more intelligent and strategically capable than their creators. This article critically examined Bostrom’s conception of the problem of artificial intelligence, focusing on his notions of superintelligence, existential risk, the orthogonality thesis, instrumental convergence, and the control problem. It argued that Bostrom’s analysis provides an important conceptual foundation for contemporary debates on artificial intelligence safety and alignment but requires philosophical supplementation when considered from an African perspective. In particular, the individualistic assumptions that can underlie some formulations of artificial intelligence ethics require enrichment through African conceptions of communal responsibility, relational personhood, human dignity, and social embeddedness. The article concluded that Bostrom’s conception of artificial intelligence is philosophically valuable as a theory of technological control and existential risk, but its relevance to Africa is strengthened when integrated with relational and communitarian conceptions of personhood and responsibility.
Keywords: Artificial intelligence, Nick Bostrom, superintelligence, existential risk, alignment, control problem, African philosophy.
Author name(s):
Idorenyin Ekwere
Department of Philosophy,
Faculty of Arts,
University of Uyo, Uyo.
Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23139545
Copyright © [2026] The Author(s). Published by the Journal of People and Worldviews (JPW). This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) Licence, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are properly credited.