AI models today have a 50% chance of successfully completing a task that would take an expert human one hour. Seven months ago, that number was roughly 30 minutes — and seven months before that, 15 minutes. These are substantial, multi-step tasks requiring sustained focus: building web applications, conducting machine learning research, or solving complex programming challenges. Today’s guest, Beth Barnes, is CEO of METR (Model Evaluation & Threat Research) — the leading organisation measuri...
Jun 26, 2025•41 min
When you have a system where ministers almost never understand their portfolios, civil servants change jobs every few months, and MPs don’t grasp parliamentary procedure even after decades in office — is the problem the people, or the structure they work in? Political journalist Ian Dunt studies the systemic reasons governments succeed and fail. And in his book How Westminster Works …and Why It Doesn’t , he argues that Britain’s government dysfunction and multi-decade failure to solve its key pr...
May 27, 2025•31 min
Throughout history, technological revolutions have fundamentally shifted the balance of power in society. The Industrial Revolution created conditions where democracies could dominate for the first time — as nations needed educated, informed, and empowered citizens to deploy advanced technologies and remain competitive. Unfortunately, there’s every reason to think artificial general intelligence (AGI) will reverse that trend. In a new paper , Tom Davidson — senior research fellow at the Forethou...
May 16, 2025•37 min
Most AI safety conversations centre on alignment: ensuring AI systems share our values and goals. But despite progress, we’re unlikely to know we’ve solved the problem before the arrival of human-level and superhuman systems in as little as three years. So some — including Buck Shlegeris, CEO of Redwood Research — are developing a backup plan to safely deploy models we fear are actively scheming to harm us: so-called “AI control.” While this may sound mad, given the reluctance of AI companies to...
Apr 18, 2025•41 min
Watch this episode on YouTube! https://youtu.be/fJssGodnCQg Conor and Arden sit down with Matt in his farewell episode to discuss the law, their team retreat, his lessons learned from 80k, and the fate of the show.
Apr 01, 2025•1 hr 43 min
The 20th century saw unprecedented change: nuclear weapons, satellites, the rise and fall of communism, third-wave feminism, the internet, postmodernism, game theory, genetic engineering, the Big Bang theory, quantum mechanics, birth control, and more. Now imagine all of it compressed into just 10 years. That’s the future Will MacAskill — philosopher and researcher at the Forethought Centre for AI Strategy — argues we need to prepare for in his new paper “ Preparing for the intelligence explosio...
Mar 25, 2025•34 min
Technology doesn’t force us to do anything — it merely opens doors. But military and economic competition pushes us through. That’s how Allan Dafoe — director of frontier safety and governance at Google DeepMind — explains one of the deepest patterns in technological history: once a powerful new capability becomes available, societies that adopt it tend to outcompete those that don’t. Those who resist too much can find themselves taken over or rendered irrelevant. These highlights are from episo...
Mar 12, 2025•29 min
Watch this episode on YouTube! https://youtu.be/IRRwHCK279E Matt, Bella, and Huon sit down with Chi Nguyen to discuss cooperating with aliens, elections of future past, and Bad Billionaires pt. 2. Check out: Matt’s summer appearance on the BBC on funding for the arts Chi’s ECL Explainer (get in touch to support!)...
Jan 13, 2025•1 hr 24 min
Economist and editor of Works in Progress Sam Bowman isn’t content to just condemn the Not In My Back Yard (NIMBY) mentality behind rich countries' construction stagnation. He wants to actually get a tonne of stuff built, and by that standard the strategy of attacking ‘NIMBYs’ has been an abject failure. They are too politically powerful, and if you try to crush them, sooner or later they crush you. So Sam lays out three alternative strategies in our full interview with him — including highlight...
Jan 06, 2025•1 hr 1 min
We explored the cutting edge of wild animal welfare science our full interview with Cameron Meyer Shorb , executive director of Wild Animal Initiative, including highlights like: One concrete example of how we might improve wild animal welfare (00:00:16) How many wild animals are there, and which animals are they? (00:04:24) Why might wild animals be suffering? (00:08:40) The objection that we shouldn't meddle in nature because nature is good (00:12:25) Vaccines for wild animals (00:17:37) Gene ...
Dec 13, 2024•30 min
Nonprofit legal expert Rose Chan Loui lays out the legal case and implications of OpenAI's attempt to shed its nonprofit parent. This episode is a selection of highlights from our full interview with Rose , including: How OpenAI carefully chose a complex nonprofit structure (00:00:26) The nonprofit board is out-resourced and in a tough spot (00:04:09) Is control of OpenAI 'priceless' to the nonprofit in pursuit of its mission? (00:06:47) Control of OpenAI is independently incredibly valuable and...
Dec 11, 2024•24 min
Elizabeth Cox — founder of the independent production company Should We Studio — makes the case that storytelling can improve the world. This episode is a selection of highlights from our full interview with Elizabeth , including: Keiran’s intro (00:00:00) Empirical evidence of the impact of storytelling (00:00:16) The hits-based approach to storytelling (00:03:35) Debating the merits of thinking about target audiences (00:07:48) Ada vs other approaches to impact-focused storytelling (00:13:15) ...
Dec 05, 2024•29 min
Charity founder Sarah Eustis-Guthrie has a candid conversation about her experience starting and running her maternal health charity, and ultimately making the difficult decision to shut down when the programme wasn’t as impactful as they expected. This episode is a selection of highlights from our full interview with Sarah : Luisa’s intro (00:00:00) What it's like to found a charity (00:00:14) Yellow flags and difficult calls (00:03:17) Disappointing results (00:06:28) The ups and downs of foun...
Dec 02, 2024•23 min
Neuroscientist Anil Seth explains how much we can learn about consciousness by studying the brain in these highlights from our full interview — including: Luisa’s intro (00:00:00) How our brain interprets reality (00:00:15) How our brain experiences our organs (00:04:04) What psychedelics teach us about consciousness (00:07:37) The physical footprint of consciousness in the brain (00:12:10) How to study the neural correlates of consciousness (00:15:37) This is a selection of highlights from epis...
Nov 15, 2024•20 min
Science writer and video blogger Sébastien Moro blows our minds with the latest research on fish consciousness, intelligence, and potential sentience. This is a selection of highlights from episode #205 of The 80,000 Hours Podcast : Sébastien Moro on the most insane things fish can do . These aren't necessarily the most important, or even most entertaining parts of the interview — so if you enjoy this, we strongly recommend checking out the full episode. And if you're finding these highlights ep...
Nov 12, 2024•31 min
Election forecaster Nate Silver gives his takes on: how effective altruism could be better, the stark tradeoffs we faced with COVID, whether the 13 Keys to the White House is "junk science," how to tell whose election predictions are better, and if venture capitalists really take risks. This is a selection of highlights from episode #204 of The 80,000 Hours Podcast : Nate Silver on making sense of SBF, and his biggest critiques of effective altruism . These aren't necessarily the most important,...
Oct 30, 2024•19 min
This is a selection of highlights from our April 2023 episode with host Luisa Rodriguez and producer Keiran Harris on 80k After Hours . These aren't necessarily the most important, or even most entertaining parts of the interview — and if you enjoy this, we strongly recommend checking out the full episode: Luisa and Keiran on free will, and the consequences of never feeling enduring guilt or shame And if you're finding these highlights episodes valuable, please let us know by emailing podcast@80...
Oct 21, 2024•13 min
This is a selection of highlights from episode #203 of The 80,000 Hours Podcast . These aren't necessarily the most important, or even most entertaining parts of the interview — and if you enjoy this, we strongly recommend checking out the full episode: Peter Godfrey-Smith on interfering with wild nature, accepting death, and the origin of complex civilisation And if you're finding these highlights episodes valuable, please let us know by emailing podcast@80000hours.org . Highlights: Luisa’s int...
Oct 18, 2024•34 min
Watch this episode on YouTube! https://youtu.be/yncw2T77OAc Matt, Bella, and Huon sit down with Conor Barnes to discuss unlikely journeys, EA criticism, discipline, timeless decision theory, and how to do the most good with a degree in classics. Check out: Conor’s 100 Tips for a Better Life: https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/7hFeMWC6Y5eaSixbD/100-tips-for-a-better-life Conor’s writing: https://parhelia.conorbarnes.com/ Zvi on timeless decision theory: https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/scwoBEju75C45W...
Oct 15, 2024•1 hr 6 min
This is a selection of highlights from episode #202 of The 80,000 Hours Podcast . These aren't necessarily the most important, or even most entertaining parts of the interview — and if you enjoy this, we strongly recommend checking out the full episode: Venki Ramakrishnan on the cutting edge of anti-ageing science And if you're finding these highlights episodes valuable, please let us know by emailing podcast@80000hours.org . Highlights: Luisa’s intro (00:00:00) Is death an inevitable consequenc...
Oct 04, 2024•23 min
This is a selection of highlights from episode #201 of The 80,000 Hours Podcast . These aren't necessarily the most important, or even most entertaining parts of the interview — and if you enjoy this, we strongly recommend checking out the full episode: Ken Goldberg on why your robot butler isn’t here yet And if you're finding these highlights episodes valuable, please let us know by emailing podcast@80000hours.org . Highlights: Luisa’s intro (00:00:00) Moravec's paradox (00:00:22) Successes in ...
Sep 30, 2024•22 min
This is a selection of highlights from episode #200 of The 80,000 Hours Podcast . These aren't necessarily the most important, or even most entertaining parts of the interview — and if you enjoy this, we strongly recommend checking out the full episode: Ezra Karger on what superforecasters and experts think about existential risks And if you're finding these highlights episodes valuable, please let us know by emailing podcast@80000hours.org . Highlights: Luisa’s intro (00:00:00) Why we need fore...
Sep 18, 2024•23 min
This is a selection of highlights from episode #199 of The 80,000 Hours Podcast . These aren't necessarily the most important, or even most entertaining parts of the interview — and if you enjoy this, we strongly recommend checking out the full episode: Nathan Calvin on California’s AI bill SB 1047 and its potential to shape US AI policy And if you're finding these highlights episodes valuable, please let us know by emailing podcast@80000hours.org . Highlights: Luisa’s intro (00:00:00) Why we ca...
Sep 12, 2024•15 min
This is a selection of highlights from episode #198 of The 80,000 Hours Podcast . These aren't necessarily the most important, or even most entertaining parts of the interview — and if you enjoy this, we strongly recommend checking out the full episode: Meghan Barrett on challenging our assumptions about insects And if you're finding these highlights episodes valuable, please let us know by emailing podcast@80000hours.org . Highlights: Luisa’s intro (00:00:00) Size diversity (00:00:16) Offspring...
Sep 09, 2024•24 min
This is a selection of highlights from episode #197 of The 80,000 Hours Podcast . These aren't necessarily the most important, or even most entertaining parts of the interview — and if you enjoy this, we strongly recommend checking out the full episode: Nick Joseph on whether Anthropic’s AI safety policy is up to the task And if you're finding these highlights episodes valuable, please let us know by emailing podcast@80000hours.org . Highlights: Rob's intro (00:00:00) What Anthropic's responsibl...
Sep 05, 2024•22 min
This is a selection of highlights from episode #196 of The 80,000 Hours Podcast . These aren't necessarily the most important, or even most entertaining parts of the interview — and if you enjoy this, we strongly recommend checking out the full episode: Jonathan Birch on the edge cases of sentience and why they matter And if you're finding these highlights episodes valuable, please let us know by emailing podcast@80000hours.org . Chapters: Luisa’s intro (00:00:00) The history of neonatal surgery...
Aug 30, 2024•26 min
This is a selection of highlights from episode #195 of The 80,000 Hours Podcast . These aren't necessarily the most important, or even most entertaining parts of the interview — and if you enjoy this, we strongly recommend checking out the full episode: Sella Nevo on who's trying to steal frontier AI models, and what they could do with them And if you're finding these highlights episodes valuable, please let us know by emailing podcast@80000hours.org . Chapters: Luisa’s intro (00:00:00) Why prot...
Aug 19, 2024•18 min
This is a selection of highlights from episode #194 of The 80,000 Hours Podcast . These aren't necessarily the most important, or even most entertaining parts of the interview — and if you enjoy this, we strongly recommend checking out the full episode: Vitalik Buterin on defensive acceleration and how to regulate AI when you fear government And if you're finding these highlights episodes valuable, please let us know by emailing podcast@80000hours.org . Chapters: Rob’s intro (00:00:00) Vitalik's...
Aug 12, 2024•35 min
This is a selection of highlights from episode #193 of The 80,000 Hours Podcast . These aren't necessarily the most important, or even most entertaining parts of the interview — and if you enjoy this, we strongly recommend checking out the full episode: Sihao Huang on the risk that US–China AI competition leads to war And if you're finding these highlights episodes valuable, please let us know by emailing podcast@80000hours.org . Chapters: Luisa’s intro (00:00:00) How advanced is Chinese AI? (00...
Jul 31, 2024•25 min
This is a selection of highlights from episode #192 of The 80,000 Hours Podcast . These aren't necessarily the most important, or even most entertaining parts of the interview — and if you enjoy this, we strongly recommend checking out the full episode: Annie Jacobsen on what would happen if North Korea launched a nuclear weapon at the US And if you're finding these highlights episodes valuable, please let us know by emailing podcast@80000hours.org . Chapters: Luisa’s intro (00:00:00) The minute...
Jul 25, 2024•24 min
