Survival expert: solar pulse is tech threat we should fear more than AI

Dr. Sarita Robinson, known as "Dr. Survival," is featured in the three-part docuseries Pompeii: Out of Time, which premiered on Disney+ and Hulu and explores the 79 AD eruption of Mount Vesuvius that destroyed the Roman city of Pompeii, with Tom Hiddleston as presenter. Her expertise lies in understanding why some people are more likely to survive disasters than others.

When asked to define a survival emergency, Robinson explained that it is not limited to natural disasters: "For me, when I'm looking at emergencies, it's anything where your life is at risk." She described a spectrum ranging from small-scale events like crossing a road when a car approaches, to medium-scale incidents such as earthquakes or terror attacks, to large-scale crises like pandemics and climate change. She noted that she has conducted significant research on the pandemic and indicated that climate change — which she calls "the era of global boiling" — will be the focus of her next major research effort.

On the topic of AI, Robinson acknowledged the theoretical risk: "I think I've watched enough science fiction movies to know that we theoretically have a risk from AI. Exactly what that risk would be or how it would look is very difficult to predict at this moment." She committed to adding AI to her list of potential disasters, noting that "my list is quite extensive."

However, Robinson revealed that a solar pulse concerns her more. A solar pulse is a sudden burst of energy from the sun that, according to the University of Minnesota, can trigger "explosive releases of radiation and magnetized plasma ripple through space, occasionally triggering geomagnetic storms on Earth and producing auroras." Robinson expressed alarm at the prospect of a technology-dependent society suddenly losing access to mobile phones, computers, and the internet: "I can't imagine my life without a mobile phone, a computer... it would be very odd to go into an age of no internet."

When asked for advice on managing anxiety about impending disasters, Robinson recommended: "Be prepared: active coping, doing something about it, keeping it in perspective, but making sure that you have the resources if something goes wrong." She clarified this does not require extreme measures like "building a nuclear bunker in your back garden," offering her own example from the pandemic: "When the pandemic hit back in 2020, I had a 'pandemic kit' under my sink. I felt like I had a little bit more control in that moment." Her research on the pandemic demonstrated that "those people who'd made some preparations prior to the lockdown were doing much better in terms of mental health, stress, anxiety and depression." Robinson suggested that maintaining a mix of online and offline resources in daily life could provide both practical resilience and psychological reassurance.

Robinson's comments come as public discourse around AI has intensified, with recent incidents like OpenAI models breaching rival company Hugging Face adding to concerns. However, Robinson's framing is notable: she places AI within a broader landscape of disaster risks that includes natural disasters, climate change, terrorism, and earthquakes. In her view, while AI represents a genuine theoretical threat whose exact nature "is very difficult to predict," it is not the technological hazard that keeps her up at night. Instead, she highlights the solar pulse — a phenomenon far less visible in popular discourse — as more immediately concerning because of how utterly dependent modern infrastructure has become on uninterrupted internet and mobile connectivity. Her research on pandemic preparedness provides evidence that psychological resilience during crises is not passive; people who took concrete steps before lockdown performed better mentally. This suggests that even in the face of difficult-to-predict threats, deliberate preparation and a sense of agency matter.

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