One big AI risk is underdiscussed, IMHO: the descent of the nation or the whole world into chaos as unprecedentedly rapid change overwhelms us. In part 4 of my five-part essay “The Singularity is Clear” I elaborate. All 4 parts published so far are here: www.thegodtest.net/singularityclear.html.

One big AI risk is underdiscussed, IMHO: the descent of the nation or the whole world into chaos as unprecedentedly rapid change overwhelms us. In part 4 of my five-part essay “The Singularity is Clear” I elaborate. All 4 parts published so far are here: www.thegodtest.net/singularityclear.html.

Will AI Make Humans Obsolete? | @garrisonlovely.bsky.social, author of the new book Obsolete, joins @robertwrighter.bsky.social to discuss the AI industry's race to replace human labor—and Garrison's proposal to stop it.

Will AI Make Humans Obsolete? | Robert Wright & Garrison Lovely

YouTube video by Nonzero

youtu.be

I think AI will demand international governance of unprecedented scope. In part 3 of my five-part essay “The Singularity is Clear” I explain why. All 3 parts published so far are here: www.thegodtest.net/singularityclear.html. The first two explain 'the singularity' and 'recursive self-improvement'.

AI is said to be heading toward ‘recursive self-improvement.’ In part II of my five-part essay “The Singularity is Clear,” I explain what that means and why it should worry us. Both Part I and Part II can be found here: thegodtest.net/singularityc... Part III will show up there Friday.

Been hearing the term ‘singularity’ lately? I’ve written a multi-part series about (1) what the term means; (2) the sense in which a singularity is and isn’t approaching; and (3) what (IMHO) lies on the other side of it. You can read part I at nonzero.org

Is the AI "Slowdown" for Real? | @robertwrighter.bsky.social and AI analyst @thezvi.bsky.social discuss Dario Amodei's proposal to slow down AI—the logic behind it and the challenges ahead of it.

Is the AI "Slowdown" for Real? | Robert Wright & Zvi Mowshowitz

YouTube video by Nonzero

youtube.com

AP x NonZero - What’s Driving Dario? w/ @robertwrighter.bsky.social AP and @nonzeronews.bsky.social once again join forces. This time: Why the AI vibe shift? americanprestigepod.com/episodes/739...

American Prestige

“American Prestige” takes a comprehensive look at U.S. foreign policy and int'l affairs, providing listeners with everything they need to know about what's going on in the world.

americanprestigepod.com

This is what businesses want. They want swarms of agents that you can give a mission, and they'll do it well. @robertwrighter.bsky.social on why we should expect AI agents to sacrifice themselves for the swarm, as they did during the OpenAI breakout.

NonZero@nonzeronews.bsky.social · 4w ago

The Week in AI that Changed the World | Liron Shapira, host of @doomdebates.bsky.social, and @robertwrighter.bsky.social discuss the epic AI vibe shift that was catalyzed by an Anthropic employee’s resignation—and the big AI stories that paved the way for it.

One of many small but collectively momentous examples of how AI will create turmoil and disorientation. This is underappreciated--even by many people who now take (valid) loss-of-control concerns seriously: the destabilizing social impact is itself enough reason to slow AI down.

"We are probably months away from AI systems getting out there loose in cyberspace, finding servers to run on unbeknownst to the people powering those servers." @scasper.bsky.social Full conversation: youtu.be/cUpa9E8RHAk

I had a great chat with @aryehcw.bsky.social on his Culturally Determined podcast about my book on AI, The God Test. Aryeh and I go way back, and it was fun to re-engage.

Artificial Intelligence and the "God Test," with Robert Wright

Podcast Episode · Culturally Determined · August 21 · 1h 26m

podcasts.apple.com

The AI Safety Vibe Shift | @davidskrueger.bsky.social, founder of AI safety nonprofit Evitable, joins @robertwrighter.bsky.social to discuss the OpenAI breakout and other recent AI developments—and how they’ve impacted prospects for an AI slowdown.

The AI Safety Vibe Shift | Robert Wright & David Krueger

YouTube video by Nonzero

youtu.be

Trump’s Unending War | Curt Mills and Andrew Day of The American Conservative join @robertwrighter.bsky.social to discuss the state of the Iran war—how negotiations have been unfolding (and unraveling), what the war is doing to the MAGA coalition, and how the war could reshape the Middle East.

Trump’s Unending War | Robert Wright, Curt Mills, and Andrew Day

YouTube video by Nonzero

youtu.be

Both @frankfukuyama.bsky.social and I are from the generation that watched the Outer Limits. Here (on the Frankly Fukuyama podcast, discussing my book on AI: t.co/1JK9U7Bdgi ) we swap memories of AI-relevant episodes.

@robertwrighter.bsky.social and I have a talk about what implications AI may have for our understanding of what it means to be human: youtu.be/2EszI4tMe5o

Robert Wright on AI and The God Test #francisfukuyama

YouTube video by Frankly Fukuyama

youtu.be

The Stockfishification of everything @hamandcheese.bsky.social on Elon Musk's Stockfish analogy.

NonZero@nonzeronews.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Fasten Your Bot-belts | Samuel Hammond (@hamandcheese.bsky.social) of FAI joins @robertwrighter.bsky.social to discuss the “Pacing the Frontier” letter in the context of the OpenAI “rogue” model escape and other signs of AI acceleration.

Fasten Your Bot-belts | Samuel Hammond (@hamandcheese.bsky.social) of FAI joins @robertwrighter.bsky.social to discuss the “Pacing the Frontier” letter in the context of the OpenAI “rogue” model escape and other signs of AI acceleration.

Fasten Your Bot-belts | Robert Wright & Samuel Hammond

YouTube video by Nonzero

youtu.be

There is a long history of Silicon Valley assuming that market conditions can handle AI safety. Connor Leahy explains the flaw to @robertwrighter.bsky.social on the Nonzero podcast. Private markets run on profit incentives, not global coordination. Check out the clip, then watch the full video below

This shouldn't be acceptable. Constraining the government's ability to abuse its regulatory control of AI is one of the great emerging policy challenges. If there's no strong congressional pushback on this, that will be a bad sign.

White House plans to keep AI framework under wraps

The White House does not plan to publicly release its new framework for evaluating advanced AI models.

axios.com

Are the Ukraine and the Iran Wars Merging? | @robertwrighter.bsky.social and Nikita Petrov discuss whether Ukraine's strike on an Iranian ship may lead to WW3 and whether Ukraine's drone incursions into Russia have really turned the tide.

Are the Ukraine and the Iran Wars Merging? | Robert Wright & Nikita Petrov

YouTube video by Nonzero

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I have a new theory about why US foreign policy elites aren’t as worried as I am about the geopolitically destabilizing impact of AI. The problem, I contend, is what I call “rational actorism.”

NonZero@nonzeronews.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Last week two seemingly unrelated events, one in the tech world and one in Trump world, together illustrated how unprepared the planet is for the AI revolution—in particular, for its potential to create international turmoil, up to and including nuclear war.

Evolution has been building toward something — and we’re not going to like what it is. www.washingtonindependentreviewofbooks.com/bookreview/t... @simonandschuster.bsky.social @robertwrighter.bsky.social #booksky #thegodtest #ai

The God Test: Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Humanity | Washington Independent Review of Books

The Independent is an important voice in the community of readers and writers dedicated to book reviews and writing about the world of books.

washingtonindependentreviewofbooks.com

If you're in NY, I hope you'll sit in on my conversation with Bruce Feiler this Monday evening about the social, political, and psychological impact of AI. www.92ny.org/event/robert...

"People don't want unelected billionaires in Silicon Valley gambling with the lives of them and their family. No one wants this." Connor Leahy (@npcollapse.bsky.social) of @controlai.com argues the superintelligence problem is political, not technical.

NonZero@nonzeronews.bsky.social · 3mo ago

The Ideology Behind AI | @robertwrighter.bsky.social and Connor Leahy (@npcollapse.bsky.social), US executive director of @controlai.com, discuss the history of AI culture and the influences that shaped it—from the hippies, to the rationalists, to Marx, to sci-fi stories, and more.

The Ideology Behind AI | @robertwrighter.bsky.social and Connor Leahy (@npcollapse.bsky.social), US executive director of @controlai.com, discuss the history of AI culture and the influences that shaped it—from the hippies, to the rationalists, to Marx, to sci-fi stories, and more.

The Ideology Behind AI | Robert Wright & Connor Leahy

YouTube video by Nonzero

youtu.be

A good cop bad cop business model: The big AI companies create the threat and sell the defense against it.

E257 - The Need for Responsible AI w/ @robertwrighter.bsky.social Robert Wright of @nonzeronews.bsky.social is back on the show, this time to talk about his new book "The God Test: Artificial Intelligence and Our Coming Cosmic Reckoning." Link in the replies 🤖

Trump’s Self-Inflicted Iran Quagmire | @robertwrighter.bsky.social and journalist Zaid Jilani discuss the latest on the Iran war and how the US, Israel, and Iran have played—and misplayed—their hands in the conflict.

Trump’s Self-Inflicted Iran Quagmire | Robert Wright & Zaid Jilani

YouTube video by Nonzero

youtu.be

On the subject of whether the Ukraine War will expand into NATO countries, there's no journalist I'd rather hear from than @leonidragozin.bsky.social, who knows the territory and is good at assessing the vantage points of all sides. This was a great conversation.

NonZero@nonzeronews.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Are Russia and NATO Headed for War? | As the NATO summit kicks off, @robertwrighter.bsky.social and journalist @leonidragozin.bsky.social discuss signs that the Ukraine war could spill into a direct conflict between Russia and members of NATO.