The Government Knows AGI is Coming

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.

Episoder(485)

Sanctioning Russia Is a Form of War. We Need to Treat It Like One.

Sanctioning Russia Is a Form of War. We Need to Treat It Like One.

The Russian political scientist Ilya Matveev recently described the impact of the West’s sanctions on his country as “30 years of economic development thrown into the bin.” He’s not exaggerating. Econ...

1 Apr 20221h 20min

I Keep Hoping Larry Summers Is Wrong. What if He’s Not?

I Keep Hoping Larry Summers Is Wrong. What if He’s Not?

“There is a chance that macroeconomic stimulus on a scale closer to World War II levels than normal recession levels will set off inflationary pressures of a kind we have not seen in a generation,” wr...

29 Mar 20221h 17min

Margaret Atwood on Stories, Deception and the Bible

Margaret Atwood on Stories, Deception and the Bible

A good rule of thumb is that whatever Margaret Atwood is worried about now is likely what the rest of us will be worried about a decade from now. The rise of authoritarianism. A backlash against women...

25 Mar 20221h 8min

How Energy Markets Are Shaping Putin’s Invasion — and the World

How Energy Markets Are Shaping Putin’s Invasion — and the World

Nearly every dimension of the Ukraine-Russia conflict has been shaped by energy markets.Russia’s oil and gas exports have long been the foundation of its economy and geopolitical strength. Vladimir Pu...

22 Mar 20221h 2min

A Realist Take on How the Russia-Ukraine War Could End

A Realist Take on How the Russia-Ukraine War Could End

As we enter the fourth week of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, many of the possible pathways this conflict could take are terrifying. A military quagmire that leads to protracted death and suffering. A ...

18 Mar 20221h 14min

Timothy Snyder on the Myths That Blinded the West to Putin’s Plans

Timothy Snyder on the Myths That Blinded the West to Putin’s Plans

“Americans and Europeans were guided through the new century by a tale about ‘the end of history,’ by what I will call the politics of inevitability, a sense that the future is just more of the presen...

15 Mar 20221h 11min

Masha Gessen on Putin’s 'Profoundly Anti-Modern’ Worldview

Masha Gessen on Putin’s 'Profoundly Anti-Modern’ Worldview

For Western audiences, the past few weeks have been a torrent of information about what’s happening in Russia and Ukraine. Daily updates of Russian military advances. Horrifying videos of buildings ex...

11 Mar 20221h 1min

Fiona Hill on the War Putin Is Really Fighting

Fiona Hill on the War Putin Is Really Fighting

Vladimir Putin was looking for a swift invasion that would halt Ukraine’s drift toward the West, reveal NATO’s fractures and weaknesses and solidify Russia as a global power. In response, the West thr...

8 Mar 202258min

Populært innen Politikk og nyheter

giver-og-gjengen-vg
aftenpodden
aftenpodden-usa
forklart
stopp-verden
popradet
det-store-bildet
fotballpodden-2
lydartikler-fra-aftenposten
i-retten
rss-gukild-johaug
dine-penger-pengeradet
rss-ness
aftenbla-bla
hanna-de-heldige
e24-podden
rss-dannet-uten-piano
frokostshowet-pa-p5
rss-penger-polser-og-politikk
bt-dokumentar-2