The Government Knows AGI is Coming
The Ezra Klein Show4 Maalis 2025

The Government Knows AGI is Coming

Artificial general intelligence — an A.I. system that can beat humans at almost any cognitive task — is arriving in just a couple of years. That’s what people tell me — people who work in A.I. labs, researchers who follow their work, former White House officials. A lot of these people have been calling me over the last couple of months trying to convey the urgency. This is coming during President Trump’s term, they tell me. We’re not ready.

One of the people who reached out to me was Ben Buchanan, the top adviser on A.I. in the Biden White House. And I thought it would be interesting to have him on the show for a couple reasons: He’s not connected to an A.I. lab, and he was at the nerve center of policymaking on A.I. for years. So what does he see coming? What keeps him up at night? And what does he think the Trump administration needs to do to get ready for the AGI — or something like AGI — he believes is right on the horizon?

This episode contains strong language.

Mentioned:

Machines of Loving Grace” by Dario Amodei

Ninety-five theses on AI” by Samuel Hammond

What It Means to be Kind in a Cruel World” by The Ezra Klein Show with George Saunders

Book recommendations:

The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas Kuhn

Rise of the Machines by Thomas Rid

A Swim in a Pond in the Rain by George Saunders

Thoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com.

You can find transcripts (posted midday) and more episodes of “The Ezra Klein Show” at nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs.

This episode of “The Ezra Klein Show” was produced by Rollin Hu. Fact-checking by Michelle Harris, with Kate Sinclair and Mary Marge Locker. Mixing by Isaac Jones, with Efim Shapiro and Aman Sahota. Our supervising editor is Claire Gordon. The show’s production team also includes Elias Isquith, Kristin Lin and Jack McCordick. Original music by Pat McCusker. Audience strategy by Kristina Samulewski and Shannon Busta. The executive producer of New York Times Opinion Audio is Annie-Rose Strasser. Special thanks to Switch and Board Podcast Studio.

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.


Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Jaksot(481)

What It Means to be Kind in a Cruel World

What It Means to be Kind in a Cruel World

George Saunders is one of America’s greatest living writers. He’s the author of dozens of critically acclaimed short stories, including his 2013 collection, “Tenth of December”; his debut novel, “Linc...

19 Helmi 20211h 15min

What ‘Drained-Pool’ Politics Costs America

What ‘Drained-Pool’ Politics Costs America

“The American landscape was once graced with resplendent public swimming pools, some big enough to hold thousands of swimmers at a time,” writes Heather McGhee in her new book, “The Sum of Us: What Ra...

16 Helmi 20211h 8min

The Senate Is Making a Mockery of Itself

The Senate Is Making a Mockery of Itself

The Senate is where Joe Biden’s agenda will live or die. More specifically, the intricacies of archaic Senate rules — the budget reconciliation process, the filibuster, the majority leader’s ability t...

12 Helmi 20211h 9min

Should We Dim the Sun? Will We Even Have a Choice?

Should We Dim the Sun? Will We Even Have a Choice?

“We are as gods and might as well get good at it,” Stewart Brand famously wrote in “The Whole Earth Catalogue.” Human beings act upon nature at fantastic scale, altering whole ecosystems, terraforming...

9 Helmi 202156min

An Appalled Republican Considers the Future of the G.O.P.

An Appalled Republican Considers the Future of the G.O.P.

"I don’t think conservatism can do its job in a free society in opposition to the institutions of that society,” Yuval Levin told me. “I think it can only function in defense of them.”Levin is the dir...

5 Helmi 20211h 25min

To Understand This Era, You Need to Think in Systems

To Understand This Era, You Need to Think in Systems

As my colleague Ben Smith wrote in an August profile, sociologist Zeynep Tufekci has “made a habit of being right on the big things.” She saw the threat of the coronavirus early and clearly. She saw t...

2 Helmi 20211h 9min

What’s Happening to Our Economy Is Like a Natural Disaster

What’s Happening to Our Economy Is Like a Natural Disaster

The Biden administration’s first legislative priority is a $1.9 trillion economic rescue package. It’s the kind of mega-package where the individual policies contained inside it — a $15 minimum wage, ...

29 Tammi 20211h 8min

The Man With the Plan to Beat the Pandemic

The Man With the Plan to Beat the Pandemic

I’ve never covered a moment that simultaneously merits so much despair and so much hope. It’s dizzying. The Biden administration takes office with over 25 million Covid-19 cases nationwide, over 420,0...

26 Tammi 20211h 20min

Suosittua kategoriassa Politiikka ja uutiset

aikalisa
rss-ootsa-kuullut-tasta
tervo-halme
ootsa-kuullut-tasta-2
politiikan-puskaradio
rss-podme-livebox
viisupodi
et-sa-noin-voi-sanoo-esittaa
otetaan-yhdet
rss-asiastudio
rikosmyytit
rss-mina-ukkola
rss-vaalirankkurit-podcast
linda-maria
the-ulkopolitist
radio-antro
rss-merja-mahkan-rahat
rss-kaikki-uusiksi
rss-hyvaa-huomenta-bryssel
rss-kuka-mina-olen