spell doom

spell doom (third-person singular simple present spells doom, present participle spelling doom, simple past and past participle spelled doom or spelt doom)

1. To be expected to cause the destruction of. [with for]
   • 2025 May 24, Richard Waters, “AI's flawed frontman”, in FT Weekend, Books, page 10:

     He [Sam Altman] came with a message that was both chilling and inspiring: without proper controls, advanced artificial intelligence might spell doom—but if you trust OpenAI to build it first, the technology will redound to the good of humanity.

• “spell doom for” (US) / “spell doom for” (UK) in Macmillan English Dictionary.
• “spell doom”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.