#177 – Nathan Labenz on recent AI breakthroughs and navigating the growing rift between AI safety and accelerationist camps

#177 – Nathan Labenz on recent AI breakthroughs and navigating the growing rift between AI safety and accelerationist camps

Back in December we spoke with Nathan Labenz — AI entrepreneur and host of The Cognitive Revolution Podcast — about the speed of progress towards AGI and OpenAI's leadership drama, drawing on Nathan's alarming experience red-teaming an early version of GPT-4 and resulting conversations with OpenAI staff and board members.

Links to learn more, video, highlights, and full transcript.

Today we go deeper, diving into:

  • What AI now actually can and can’t do, across language and visual models, medicine, scientific research, self-driving cars, robotics, weapons — and what the next big breakthrough might be.
  • Why most people, including most listeners, probably don’t know and can’t keep up with the new capabilities and wild results coming out across so many AI applications — and what we should do about that.
  • How we need to learn to talk about AI more productively, particularly addressing the growing chasm between those concerned about AI risks and those who want to see progress accelerate, which may be counterproductive for everyone.
  • Where Nathan agrees with and departs from the views of ‘AI scaling accelerationists.’
  • The chances that anti-regulation rhetoric from some AI entrepreneurs backfires.
  • How governments could (and already do) abuse AI tools like facial recognition, and how militarisation of AI is progressing.
  • Preparing for coming societal impacts and potential disruption from AI.
  • Practical ways that curious listeners can try to stay abreast of everything that’s going on.
  • And plenty more.

Producer and editor: Keiran Harris
Audio Engineering Lead: Ben Cordell
Technical editing: Simon Monsour and Milo McGuire
Transcriptions: Katy Moore

Jaksot(333)

'95% of AI Pilots Fail': The hidden agenda behind the viral stat that misled millions

'95% of AI Pilots Fail': The hidden agenda behind the viral stat that misled millions

You might have heard that '95% of corporate AI pilots' are failing. It was one of the most widely cited AI statistics of 2025, parroted by media outlets everywhere. It helped trigger a Nasdaq selloff ...

28 Huhti 10min

#242 – Will MacAskill on how we survive the 'intelligence explosion,' AI character, and the case for 'viatopia'

#242 – Will MacAskill on how we survive the 'intelligence explosion,' AI character, and the case for 'viatopia'

Hundreds of millions already turn to AI on the most personal of topics — therapy, political opinions, and how to treat others. And as AI takes over more of the economy, the character of these systems ...

22 Huhti 3h 9min

Risks from power-seeking AI systems (article narration by Zershaaneh Qureshi)

Risks from power-seeking AI systems (article narration by Zershaaneh Qureshi)

Hundreds of prominent AI scientists and other notable figures signed a statement in 2023 saying that mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority. At 80,000 Hours, we’ve consi...

16 Huhti 1h 29min

How scary is Claude Mythos? 303 pages in 21 minutes

How scary is Claude Mythos? 303 pages in 21 minutes

With Claude Mythos we have an AI that knows when it's being tested, can obscure its reasoning when it wants, and is better at breaking into (and out of) computers than any human alive. Rob Wiblin work...

10 Huhti 21min

Village gossip, pesticide bans, and gene drives: 17 experts on the future of global health

Village gossip, pesticide bans, and gene drives: 17 experts on the future of global health

What does it really take to lift millions out of poverty and prevent needless deaths?In this special compilation episode, 17 past guests — including economists, nonprofit founders, and policy advisors...

7 Huhti 4h 6min

What everyone is missing about Anthropic vs the Pentagon. And: The Meta leaks are worse than you think.

What everyone is missing about Anthropic vs the Pentagon. And: The Meta leaks are worse than you think.

When the Pentagon tried to strong-arm Anthropic into dropping its ban on AI-only kill decisions and mass domestic surveillance, the company refused. Its critics went on the attack: Anthropic and its s...

3 Huhti 20min

#241 – Richard Moulange on how now AI codes viable genomes from scratch and outperforms virologists at lab work — what could go wrong?

#241 – Richard Moulange on how now AI codes viable genomes from scratch and outperforms virologists at lab work — what could go wrong?

Last September, scientists used an AI model to design genomes for entirely new bacteriophages (viruses that infect bacteria). They then built them in a lab. Many were viable. And despite being entirel...

31 Maalis 3h 7min

#240 – Samuel Charap on how a Ukraine ceasefire could accidentally set Europe up for a bigger war

#240 – Samuel Charap on how a Ukraine ceasefire could accidentally set Europe up for a bigger war

Many people believe a ceasefire in Ukraine will leave Europe safer. But today's guest lays out how a deal could potentially generate insidious new risks — leaving us in a situation that's equally dang...

24 Maalis 1h 12min

Suosittua kategoriassa Koulutus

rss-murhan-anatomia
psykopodiaa-podcast
voi-hyvin-meditaatiot-2
adhd-podi
rss-arkea-ja-aurinkoa-podcast-espanjasta
rss-niinku-asia-on
rss-liian-kuuma-peruna
rss-rahamania
kesken
rss-valo-minussa-2
rss-narsisti
taytta-tavaraa
rahapuhetta
kehossa
ihminen-tavattavissa-tommy-hellsten-instituutti
rss-duodecim-lehti
rss-tietoinen-yhteys-podcast-2
rss-vapaudu-voimaasi
rss-tyohyvinvoinnin-aakkoset
filocast-filosofian-perusteet