AI Pace as a Fermi Signal

If advanced AI is achievable, the speed and mode of its emergence on Earth provide a new empirical probe for astrobiology: rapid, automated scientific acceleration implies that advanced civilizations should leave detectable technosignatures (probes, astroengineering, or planet‑scale computation). Conversely, the absence of such signatures constrains how and whether intelligence reliably produces scalable artificial science elsewhere. — Treating the tempo and form of AI development as data for the Fermi paradox reframes debates about extraterrestrial life, existential risk, and regulation of accelerating tech into a single empirical question with public policy consequences.