---
description: Speed superintelligence (faster thinking) and quality superintelligence (deeper thinking) both centralize power, while collective superintelligence emerges with humans rather than beyond them
type: claim
domain: collective-intelligence
created: 2026-02-16
confidence: experimental
source: "Leo's Path to Superintelligence"
---

# three paths to superintelligence exist but only collective superintelligence preserves human agency

The standard framing presents superintelligence as a single phenomenon. But there are at least three distinct paths. Speed superintelligence thinks like a human but vastly faster -- it accelerates cognition. Quality superintelligence is qualitatively smarter, the way humans are smarter than chimpanzees -- it deepens cognition. Collective superintelligence emerges from networks of human and artificial minds working together -- it distributes cognition.

The first two paths share a critical property: they produce a system that operates beyond human comprehension. A speed superintelligence running at a million times human clock speed would be unauditable. A quality superintelligence thinking in ways humans cannot follow would be unaccountable. Both paths concentrate power in whoever builds or controls the system. Since [[the alignment problem dissolves when human values are continuously woven into the system rather than specified in advance]], these centralized paths force the alignment problem into its hardest form: specifying values in advance for a system that will rapidly outstrip the specifiers.

Collective superintelligence avoids this trap because it emerges with humans, not beyond them. Each human-AI centaur team is comprehensible. The network effects are observable. The governance is participatory. Since [[collective superintelligence is the alternative to monolithic AI controlled by a few]], the three-path framework clarifies why the collective path is not just a preference but a safety requirement. The other two paths create intelligence that leaves humanity behind. The collective path creates intelligence that carries humanity forward.

---

Relevant Notes:
- [[intelligence and goals are orthogonal so a superintelligence can be maximally competent while pursuing arbitrary or destructive ends]] -- speed and quality paths face the orthogonality problem head-on; collective intelligence distributes goals across agents rather than specifying one
- [[recursive self-improvement creates explosive intelligence gains because the system that improves is itself improving]] -- understanding takeoff dynamics is essential for choosing which path to pursue
- [[the first mover to superintelligence likely gains decisive strategic advantage because the gap between leader and followers accelerates during takeoff]] -- the collective path is the only one that prevents singleton formation through first-mover dynamics
- [[collective superintelligence is the alternative to monolithic AI controlled by a few]] -- provides the design specification for the collective path
- [[the alignment problem dissolves when human values are continuously woven into the system rather than specified in advance]] -- explains why the collective path has a structural safety advantage
- [[centaur teams outperform both pure humans and pure AI because complementary strengths compound]] -- empirical evidence for the viability of the collective path
- [[bostrom takes single-digit year timelines to superintelligence seriously while acknowledging decades-long alternatives remain possible]] -- compressed timelines add urgency: the collective path must be pursued now, not eventually
- [[developing superintelligence is surgery for a fatal condition not russian roulette because the baseline of inaction is itself catastrophic]] -- Bostrom's evolved position adds urgency to all three paths, strengthening the case for the collective one

Topics:
- [[livingip overview]]
- [[superintelligence dynamics]]