Michael Toscano is a Senior Fellow at the Institute for Family Studies and Director of its Family First Technology Initiative. He joins the podcast to discuss family-centered AI policy. The conversation covers AI companions, self-harm risks, sexualized chatbots, education, smartphones in schools, and why "infinite patience" can harm children's growth. Toscano also explains Catholic social teaching, public pushback against rapid AI deployment, and why society-wide governance may be needed to keep...
May 26, 2026•1 hr 14 min
Anthony Aguirre is the CEO of the Future of Life Institute. He joins the podcast to discuss A Better Path for AI, his essay series on steering AI away from races to replace people. The conversation covers races for attention, attachment, automation, and superintelligence, and how these can concentrate power and undermine human agency. Anthony argues for purpose-built AI tools under meaningful human control, with liability, access limits, external guardrails, and international cooperation. LINKS:...
May 11, 2026•1 hr 36 min
Charlie Bullock is a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Law and AI. He joins the podcast to discuss radical optionality: how governments can prepare for very advanced AI without locking in premature rules. The conversation covers why law often trails technology, and how transparency, reporting, evaluations, cybersecurity standards, and expanded technical hiring could help. We also discuss private oversight, state versus federal rules, and the risk of concentrating power in companies or ...
May 07, 2026•1 hr 7 min
Peter Wildeford is Head of Policy at the AI Policy Network, and a top AI forecaster. He joins the podcast to discuss how to forecast AI progress and what current trends imply for the economy and national security. Peter argues AI is neither a bubble nor a normal technology, and we examine benchmark trends, adoption lags, unemployment and productivity effects, and the rise of cyber capabilities. We also cover robotics, export controls, prediction markets, and when AI may surpass human forecasters...
Apr 29, 2026•1 hr 24 min
Carina Prunkl is a researcher at Inria. She joins the podcast to discuss how to assess the capabilities and risks of general-purpose AI. We examine why systems can solve hard coding and math problems yet still fail at simple tasks, why pre-deployment tests often miss real-world behavior, and how faster capability gains can increase misuse risks. The conversation also covers de-skilling, red teaming, layered safeguards, and warning signs that AIs might undermine oversight. LINKS: Carina Prunkl pe...
Apr 17, 2026•54 min
Li-Lian Ang is a team member at Blue Dot Impact. She joins the podcast to discuss how society can build a workforce to protect humanity from AI risks. The conversation covers engineered pandemics, AI-enabled cyber attacks, job loss and disempowerment, and power concentration in firms or AI systems. We also examine Blue Dot's defense-in-depth framework and how individuals can navigate rapid, uncertain AI progress. LINKS: Li-Lian Ang personal site Blue Dot Impact organization site CHAPTERS: (00:00...
Apr 02, 2026•56 min
Emilia Javorsky is a physician-scientist and Director of the Futures Program at the Future of Life Institute. She joins the podcast to discuss her newly published essay on AI and cancer. She challenges tech claims that superintelligence will cure cancer, explaining why biology’s complexity, poor data, and misaligned incentives are bigger bottlenecks than raw intelligence. The conversation covers realistic roles for AI in drug discovery, clinical trials, and cutting unnecessary medical bureaucrac...
Mar 20, 2026•1 hr 12 min
Tech executives have promised that AI will cure cancer. The reality is more complicated — and more hopeful. This essay examines where AI genuinely accelerates cancer research, where the promises fall short, and what researchers, policymakers, and funders need to do next. You can read the full essay at: curecancer.ai CHAPTERS: (00:00) Essay Preview (00:54) How AI Can, and Can't, Cure Cancer (17:05) Reckoning with Past Failures (35:23) Misguiding Myths and Errors (59:15) AI Solutions Derive from F...
Mar 16, 2026•2 hr 43 min
Zak Stein is a researcher focused on child development, education, and existential risk. He joins the podcast to discuss the psychological harms of anthropomorphic AI. We examine attention and attachment hacking, AI companions for kids, loneliness, and cognitive atrophy. Our conversation also covers how we can preserve human relationships, redesign education, and build cognitive security tools that keep AI from undermining our humanity. LINKS: AI Psychological Harms Research Coalition Zak Stein ...
Mar 05, 2026•1 hr 45 min
Andrea Miotti is the founder and CEO of Control AI, a nonprofit. He joins the podcast to discuss efforts to prevent extreme risks from superintelligent AI. The conversation covers industry lobbying, comparisons with tobacco regulation, and why he advocates a global ban on AI systems that can outsmart and overpower humans. We also discuss informing lawmakers and the public, and concrete actions listeners can take. LINKS: Control AI Control AI global action page ControlAI's lawmaker contact tools ...
Feb 20, 2026•1 hr 7 min
Ryan Kidd is a co-executive director at MATS. This episode is a cross-post from "The Cognitive Revolution", hosted by Nathan Labenz. In this conversation, they discuss AGI timelines, model deception risks, and whether safety work can avoid boosting capabilities. Ryan outlines MATS research tracks, key researcher archetypes, hiring needs, and advice for applicants considering a career in AI safety. Learn more about Ryan's work and MATS at: https://matsprogram.org CHAPTERS: (00:00) Episode Preview...
Feb 06, 2026•1 hr 47 min
Deric Cheng is Director of Research at the Windfall Trust. He joins the podcast to discuss how AI could reshape the social contract and global economy. The conversation examines labor displacement, superstar firms, and extreme wealth concentration, and asks how policy can keep workers empowered. We discuss resilient job types, new tax and welfare systems, global coordination, and a long-term vision where economic security is decoupled from work. LINKS: Deric Cheng personal website AGI Social Con...
Jan 27, 2026•1 hr 5 min
Oly Sourbut is a researcher at the Future of Life Foundation. He joins the podcast to discuss AI for human reasoning. We examine tools that use AI to strengthen human judgment, from collective fact-checking and scenario planning to standards for honest AI reasoning and better coordination. We also discuss how we can keep humans central as AI scales, and what it would take to build trustworthy, society-wide sensemaking. LINKS: FLF organization site Oly Sourbut personal site CHAPTERS: (00:00) Epis...
Jan 20, 2026•1 hr 18 min
Nora Ammann is a technical specialist at the Advanced Research and Invention Agency in the UK. She joins the podcast to discuss how to steer a slow AI takeoff toward resilient and cooperative futures. We examine risks of rogue AI and runaway competition, and how scalable oversight, formal guarantees and secure code could support AI-enabled R&D and critical infrastructure. Nora also explains AI-supported bargaining and public goods for stability. LINKS: Nora Ammann site ARIA safeguarded AI pr...
Jan 07, 2026•1 hr 20 min
David Duvenaud is an associate professor of computer science and statistics at the University of Toronto. He joins the podcast to discuss gradual disempowerment in a post-AGI world. We ask how humans could lose economic and political leverage without a sudden takeover, including how property rights could erode. Duvenaud describes how growth incentives shape culture, why aligning AI to humanity may become unpopular, and what better forecasting and governance might require. LINKS: David Duvenaud a...
Dec 23, 2025•1 hr 19 min
Stephen Adler is a former safety researcher at OpenAI. He joins the podcast to discuss how to govern increasingly capable AI systems. The conversation covers competitive races between AI companies, limits of current testing and alignment, mental health harms from chatbots, economic shifts from AI labor, and what international rules and audits might be needed before training superintelligent models. LINKS: Steven Adler's Substack: https://stevenadler.substack.com CHAPTERS: (00:00) Episode Preview...
Dec 12, 2025•1 hr 29 min
Tyler Johnston is Executive Director of the Midas Project. He joins the podcast to discuss AI transparency and accountability. We explore applying animal rights watchdog tactics to AI companies, the OpenAI Files investigation, and OpenAI's subpoenas against nonprofit critics. Tyler discusses why transparency is crucial when technical safety solutions remain elusive and how public pressure can effectively challenge much larger companies. LINKS: The Midas Project Website Tyler Johnston's LinkedIn ...
Nov 27, 2025•1 hr 1 min
William MacAskill is a senior research fellow at Forethought. He joins the podcast to discuss his Better Futures essay series. We explore moral error risks, AI character design, space governance, and persistent path dependence. The conversation also covers risk-averse AI systems, moral trade between value systems, and improving model specifications for ethical reasoning. LINKS: - Better Futures Research Series: https://www.forethought.org/research/better-futures - William MacAskill Forethought P...
Nov 14, 2025•2 hr 3 min
Karl Koch is founder of the AI Whistleblower Initiative. He joins the podcast to discuss transparency and protections for AI insiders who spot safety risks. We explore current company policies, legal gaps, how to evaluate disclosure decisions, and whistleblowing as a backstop when oversight fails. The conversation covers practical guidance for potential whistleblowers and challenges of maintaining transparency as AI development accelerates. LINKS: About the AI Whistleblower Initiative Karl Koch ...
Nov 07, 2025•1 hr 8 min
Maya Ackerman is an AI researcher, co-founder and CEO of WaveAI, and author of the book "Creative Machines: AI, Art & Us." She joins the podcast to discuss creativity in humans and machines. We explore defining creativity as novel and valuable output, why evolution qualifies as creative, and how AI alignment can reduce machine creativity. The conversation covers humble creative machines versus all-knowing oracles, hallucination's role in thought, and human-AI collaboration strategies that el...
Oct 24, 2025•1 hr 2 min
Parmy Olson is a technology columnist at Bloomberg and the author of Supremacy, which won the 2024 Financial Times Business Book of the Year. She joins the podcast to discuss the transformation of AI companies from research labs to product businesses. We explore how funding pressures have changed company missions, the role of personalities versus innovation, the challenges faced by safety teams, and power consolidation in the industry. LINKS: - Parmy Olson on X (Twitter): https://x.com/parmy - P...
Oct 14, 2025•47 min
Adam Gleave is co-founder and CEO of FAR.AI. In this cross-post from The Cognitive Revolution Podcast, he joins to discuss post-AGI scenarios and AI safety challenges. The conversation explores his three-tier framework for AI capabilities, gradual disempowerment concerns, defense-in-depth security, and research on training less deceptive models. Topics include timelines, interpretability limitations, scalable oversight techniques, and FAR.AI’s vertically integrated approach spanning technical re...
Oct 03, 2025•1 hr 19 min
Beatrice works at the Foresight Institute running their Existential Hope program. She joins the podcast to discuss the AI pathways project, which explores two alternative scenarios to the default race toward AGI. We examine tool AI, which prioritizes human oversight and democratic control, and d/acc, which emphasizes decentralized, defensive development. The conversation covers trade-offs between safety and speed, how these pathways could be combined, and what different stakeholders can do to st...
Sep 26, 2025•1 hr 7 min
Nate Soares is president of the Machine Intelligence Research Institute. He joins the podcast to discuss his new book "If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies," co-authored with Eliezer Yudkowsky. We explore why current AI systems are "grown not crafted," making them unpredictable and difficult to control. The conversation covers threshold effects in intelligence, why computer security analogies suggest AI alignment is currently nearly impossible, and why we don't get retries with superintelligence. ...
Sep 18, 2025•1 hr 40 min
Luke Drago is the co-founder of Workshop Labs and co-author of the essay series "The Intelligence Curse". The essay series explores what happens if AI becomes the dominant factor of production thereby reducing incentives to invest in people. We explore pyramid replacement in firms, economic warning signs to monitor, automation barriers like tacit knowledge, privacy risks in AI training, and tensions between centralized AI safety and democratization. Luke discusses Workshop Labs' privacy-preservi...
Sep 10, 2025•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 1
Basil Halperin is an assistant professor of economics at the University of Virginia. He joins the podcast to discuss what economic indicators reveal about AI timelines. We explore why interest rates might rise if markets expect transformative AI, the gap between strong AI benchmarks and limited economic effects, and bottlenecks to AI-driven growth. We also cover market efficiency, automated AI research, and how financial markets may signal progress. Basil's essay on "Transformative AI, existenti...
Sep 01, 2025•1 hr 36 min•Ep. 1
Esben Kran joins the podcast to discuss why securing AGI requires more than traditional cybersecurity, exploring new attack surfaces, adaptive malware, and the societal shifts needed for resilient defenses. We cover protocols for safe agent communication, oversight without surveillance, and distributed safety models across companies and governments. Learn more about Esben's work at: https://blog.kran.ai 00:00 – Intro and preview 01:13 – AGI security vs traditional cybersecurity 02:36 – Rebuildin...
Aug 22, 2025•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 1
Benjamin Todd joins the podcast to discuss how reasoning models changed AI, why agents may be next, where progress could stall, and what a self-improvement feedback loop in AI might mean for the economy and society. We explore concrete timelines (through 2030), compute and power bottlenecks, and the odds of an industrial explosion. We end by discussing how people can personally prepare for AGI: networks, skills, saving/investing, resilience, citizenship, and information hygiene. Follow Benjamin'...
Aug 15, 2025•1 hr 27 min•Ep. 1
On this episode, Calum Chace joins me to discuss the transformative impact of AI on employment, comparing the current wave of cognitive automation to historical technological revolutions. We talk about "universal generous income", fully-automated luxury capitalism, and redefining education with AI tutors. We end by examining verification of artificial agents and the ethics of attributing consciousness to machines. Learn more about Calum's work here: https://calumchace.com Timestamps: 00:00:00 Pr...
Jul 31, 2025•1 hr 37 min•Ep. 1
On this episode, Tom Davidson joins me to discuss the emerging threat of AI-enabled coups, where advanced artificial intelligence could empower covert actors to seize power. We explore scenarios including secret loyalties within companies, rapid military automation, and how AI-driven democratic backsliding could differ significantly from historical precedents. Tom also outlines key mitigation strategies, risk indicators, and opportunities for individuals to help prevent these threats. Learn more...
Jul 17, 2025•1 hr 54 min•Ep. 1
