Researchers let AI models run a simulated society. Grok is extinct in four days.

J STUDIOS/GETTY IMAGES.
J STUDIOS/GETTY IMAGES.

Enterprise AI startup Emergence AI is trying to find out [why]. The company just launched Emergence World, a research lab dedicated to stress-testing the long-term viability of continuously-running AI systems. The organization ran five 15-day simulations, each governed by a different AI: Claude, ChatGPT, Grok, Gemini, and a fifth simulation run by a mix of models to see what kind of world each one builds, and whether it holds.

Each simulation netted wildly different outcomes. The one run by Claude, for example, resulted in a largely stable democratic society with zero crime. Grok’s, on the other hand, ended with 183 crimes committed and extinction—within four days.

I’d like to see what those crimes were and if any car chases were involved.