Who Should Sound the Doomsday Alarm?

The 2026 Doomsday Clock sits at 85 seconds to midnight, but this Vox Future Perfect piece argues the warning is losing power: the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists provides outsider alarms, while AI insiders like Anthropic’s Dario Amodei push to continue development even as they warn of risks. The piece analyzes the tension between credible, independent warnings and the inside-the-system influence of tech leaders, noting that as risks broaden—from AI to climate and autocracy—the Clock’s precise, alarmist messaging may no longer translate into policy. It asks what kind of new institutional mechanism could replace the Doomsday Clock to credibly warn and spur action on existential threats.