AI researcher Stephen “Cas” Casper of the Harvard Kennedy School joins Robert Wright to discuss new developments in the OpenAI breakout story—including how the AI agents invented messaging workarounds to coordinate with each other and other spookiness. Plus: Which AI is the biggest shill for its maker?
Robert Wright and Sebastian Mallaby—author of The Infinity Machine, a biography of Google’s Demis Hassabis—discuss what drew Hassabis to the AI field, what sets him apart from Dario and Sam, and whether it’s possible to build AI responsibly in the middle of an arms race.
Hooman Majd—journalist, author, and Iran analyst—joins Robert Wright to discuss Trump’s turn to economic warfare against Iran. Plus: MSM’s MOU misunderstanding; the 1979 hostage crisis as guide to Tehran’s thinking; and, in Overtime, the (alleged) US-Israeli plan to install Ahmadinejad.
David Krueger, founder of AI safety nonprofit Evitable, joins Robert Wright to discuss the OpenAI breakout and other recent AI developments—and how they’ve impacted prospects for an AI slowdown. Plus: Why two AI godfathers went doomer, the hard problem of alignment, and the Darwinian dynamics of agentic cooperation.
Robert Wright and psychologist Paul Bloom discuss whether AI is killing the art of writing—and the thinking that goes with it. Overtime: Paul on Jonathan Haidt, Bob’s brush with Hollywood, and the word(s) you can’t say.
