The Great Simplification with Nate Hagens25 Kesä 2025

Algorithmic Cancer: Why AI Development Is Not What You Think with Connor Leahy

Recently, the risks about Artificial Intelligence and the need for 'alignment' have been flooding our cultural discourse – with Artificial Super Intelligence acting as both the most promising goal and most pressing threat. But amid the moral debate, there's been surprisingly little attention paid to a basic question: do we even have the technical capability to guide where any of this is headed? And if not, should we slow the pace of innovation until we better understand how these complex systems actually work?

In this episode, Nate is joined by Artificial Intelligence developer and researcher, Connor Leahy, to discuss the rapid advancements in AI, the potential risks associated with its development, and the challenges of controlling these technologies as they evolve. Connor also explains the phenomenon of what he calls 'algorithmic cancer' – AI generated content that crowds out true human creations, propelled by algorithms that can't tell the difference. Together, they unpack the implications of AI acceleration, from widespread job disruption and energy-intensive computing to the concentration of wealth and power to tech companies.

What kinds of policy and regulatory approaches could help slow down AI's acceleration in order to create safer development pathways? Is there a world where AI becomes a tool to aid human work and creativity, rather than replacing it? And how do these AI risks connect to the deeper cultural conversation about technology's impacts on mental health, meaning, and societal well-being?

(Conversation recorded on May 21st, 2025)

About Connor Leahy:

Connor Leahy is the founder and CEO of Conjecture, which works on aligning artificial intelligence systems by building infrastructure that allows for the creation of scalable, auditable, and controllable AI.

Previously, he co-founded EleutherAI, which was one of the earliest and most successful open-source Large Language Model communities, as well as a home for early discussions on the risks of those same advanced AI systems. Prior to that, Connor worked as an AI researcher and engineer for Aleph Alpha GmbH.

Show Notes and More

Watch this video episode on YouTube

Want to learn the broad overview of The Great Simplification in 30 minutes? Watch our Animated Movie.

---

Support The Institute for the Study of Energy and Our Future

Join our Substack newsletter

Join our Discord channel and connect with other listeners

Tämä jakso on lisätty Podme-palveluun avoimen RSS-syötteen kautta eikä se ole Podmen omaa tuotantoa. Siksi jakso saattaa sisältää mainontaa.

Jaksot(422)

The Collapse of Our Mythology: Can Humanity Choose What's Next? with Charles Eisenstein

In this episode, Nate welcomes author and philosopher, Charles Eisenstein, for a long-requested conversation on the mythologies underneath civilization. For over two decades, Charles has argued that t...

2 Syys 1h 38min

Just Stop Oil!?: The Economic Foundation We Ignore | Frankly Archives 39 (2023)

This week's Frankly is an episode from summer of 2023, which is being re-released to provide context for one of the most important questions we face today: what is the role of energy, specifically oil...

28 Elo 31min

The Psychopathic Selection Hypothesis: The Rules of the Game Keep Us Trapped with Greg Elliott | TGS 231

Modern companies, markets, and institutions routinely behave in ways that would be diagnosed as pathological in a person: emotional detachment, strategic deception, grandiosity, and the treatment of p...

26 Elo 1h 41min

An Antidote to Despair: What Dogs Reveal About the Metacrisis | Frankly 156

This week, Nate turns a late-night emergency vet visit for one of his dogs into a broader reflection on the extraordinary relationship between dogs and humans. While dogs have been human companions fo...

21 Elo 18min

Material World: The Key Resources Underpinning Modern Economies with Ed Conway | Archive TGS 127

Current geopolitical events continue to expose just how complex and fragile our global economic system is. As such, The Great Simplification team is re-releasing this episode with Ed Conway, which cov...

19 Elo 1h 49min

The Villains We Choose and the Work They Give Us | Frankly 155

How can humans – at least those with access to the internet – ingest the same facts and data, yet arrive at radically different worldviews? That's the question Nate explores in this week's Frankly, wh...

14 Elo 29min

Your Anxiety Is Normal: A New Psychology for a World in Crisis with Richard Schwartz & Steffi Bednarek

Most of us were taught to treat emotions like distress, numbness, and burnout as private failings to manage and move past, rather than normal responses to living within a world full of crises. The uni...

12 Elo 1h 40min

Unordinary Interventions: How to Plant Seeds for a Better Future | Frankly 154

What can one person actually do about the metacrisis? In this week's Frankly, Nate explicitly outlines just a few of the countless actions we can take to actually change what's coming, rather than jus...

7 Elo 30min