No, AI systems don’t have a drive to survive – a developmental psychologist explains why it only looks that way

In tests, some AI systems resisted being shut down. But an instinct to stay “alive” isn’t the reason they behaved that way.

By: Peter J. Marshall, Temple University, The Conversation

Outlets: The Conversation

Published: September 15, 2026

Words: 959

Last Updated: 1 month ago

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By Peter J. Marshall, Temple University

In controlled safety tests described earlier this year, researchers asked AI models to solve a series of simple math problems. Partway through the exercise, the instructors warned the bots that if they tried to solve the next problem, the computer environment they were operating in would be shut down. In some runs, the shutdown occurred as specified. In others, models interfered with the shutdown script and continued with the …

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