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“I bring humanist, philosophical, and scientific reasoning to my latest book on Why We Must Fix the ‘Human Problem’ to Solve AGI”
Kai Taraporevala is a writer who has lived in India, the U.K., France, West Asia, and Singapore. This has given him an appreciation of how cultures and histories connect us, as well as the ideologies that divide.
Trained as a physicist, Kai brings a commitment to empirical evidence and clear reasoning to the subjects he examines. He holds a Master of Science in Physics from IIT Delhi, a Master of Science from the University of Dundee (thesis on electron mobility in amorphous silicon), and a Master of Science in Physics (Astrophysics with Space Science) from the Open University (U.K.). He completed his Open University degree in December 2025 at the age of 60. This was a return to first principles driven by philosophical inquiry.
His business career includes an MBA from INSEAD and decades in corporate finance, advising global companies and business families, and investing. This has given him a deep understanding of incentives, governance, organisational behaviour, and the practical constraints within which societies and institutions operate. This blend of scientific rigour, cross‑cultural experience, and real‑world insight shapes his approach to ethics and policy.
He played rugby union as a scrum-half for clubs and university teams in India, Scotland, and France. The sport taught him about trust and teamwork. He has also trekked extensively in the Himalayas, experiences that gave him a sense of the immensity of nature and the ecological connections that sustain life.
Kai is the co‑author of Value Creation for Owners and Directors (2023), and the author of Modern Humanism: Science, Ethics, and the Stewardship of Earth (2025).
His latest book, From Prehistory to the Age of AGI: How Our Deep Past and the Science of Intelligence Shape Our Future Human-AGI World, will be published in the first week of October 2026. The book asks: What are minds? Why might misaligned minds, human or Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), pose existential risks? What can we learn from the emergence of human intelligence? And what might these insights reveal about human–AGI futures?
But technological advances nearly always race ahead of true understanding. We cannot address the ‘AGI’ problem in isolation and without tackling deeper human issues. As artificial minds accelerate toward general intelligence, we urgently need to go beyond narrow technical-commercial considerations and explore these questions in a wider and deeper manner.
Kai writes with gratitude for the many kindnesses he has received and to spark meaningful dialogues. He welcomes thoughtful messages (no attachments please) at [email protected], though replies may be leisurely.
My writing is informed by my humanist philosophy and physics studies, and my conviction that normative ideas need to be influenced by and remain connected to the findings of science. Any claims about the world must be open to empirical testing.
