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 · last wk.

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 · 2w 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

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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 · 4w 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.

Not sure I convinced @paulbloomatyale.bsky.social that skynet is trying to kill my new book on AI, The God Test. Listen to the evidence and judge for yourself. (And if you still have doubts, read the book: If you were skynet wouldn't you try to kill it?)

Are Books Dead? | Robert Wright & Paul Bloom

YouTube video by Nonzero

youtube.com

New conversation with @robertwrighter.bsky.social and @henryshevlin.bsky.social about Bob's fascinating new book on AI, 'The God Test'. We chat about AI progress, superintelligence, the US-China race, global coordination, evolution’s purpose, and consciousness. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bfky...

Can Humanity Survive Superintelligence? (with Robert Wright)

YouTube video by Conspicuous Cognition

youtube.com

This prediction of mine--from @joelachenbach.bsky.social's new Washington Post piece on the future of technology--will strike many people as crazy, but it's basically a corollary of things said by lots of AI observers, including the heads of the three big US AI companies.

Engrossing rumination by @robertwrighter.bsky.social on AI's perils & potentials & larger meanings. I don't know enough about AI yet to agree 100% w/its arguments, it is full of useful ideas & promising paths. The exploration of 'cognitive sovereignty' alone is worth the time spent reading it

"We are the environment of AI's evolution. And unlike the environment of biological evolution, we are reflective and aware and conscious." @robertwrighter.bsky.social discussing his new book The God Test on @jacklgoldsmith.bsky.social's Executive Functions. www.execfunctions.org/p/the-god-test

From my piece in Friday's Washington Post on Trump's de facto ban of Anthropic's Fable. www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

If you've been lying awake at night wondering what exactly the title of my new book on AI means, your ship has come in. In the latest @nonzeronews.bsky.social I provide the definitive exegesis.

What is the "God test"?

Explaining the title of my new book on AI.

nonzero.org

“America’s preoccupation with 'winning' the AI race with China could well lead to unprecedented catastrophes, even catastrophes on a global scale,” @robertwrighter.bsky.social writes. https://wapo.st/3SuVyxb

Seeing China Clearly | Trans-Pacific tech watcher @tfa.ng joins @robertwrighter.bsky.social to take a close look at China—including how the government works (and doesn’t), online censorship, how China sees AI and the chip war, the legacy of the one-child policy, and more.

Seeing China Clearly | Robert Wright & Tianyu Fang

YouTube video by Nonzero

youtu.be

Trump's all-too-rare cooperative impulses should be encouraged. But when he expresses them, the MSM and the Blob give him negative feedback. My @nonzeronews.bsky.social piece on the US-China summit:

Trump's accidental triumph in Beijing

Plus: Bipartisan AI anxiety in vivid form.

nonzero.org

From my piece in the latest @nonzeronews.bsky.social, "Trump's Accidental Triumph in Beijing." www.nonzero.org/p/trumps-acc...

Really enjoyed this conversation with @binarybits.bsky.social.

NonZero@nonzeronews.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Is the AI Takeoff Starting? | Timothy B. Lee (@binarybits.bsky.social), author of the Understanding AI newsletter and host of the AI Summer podcast, joins @robertwrighter.bsky.social to discuss whether AI is a “normal technology” or something much, much more.

Chatbots can already help an aspiring bioweapons maker—and pandemics don't respect borders. That's among the reasons that stigmatizing people who pursue US-China dialogue on AI is bad for the US. My @nonzeronews.bsky.social piece:

AI and the New McCarthyism

Plus: Graphs of the week!

nonzero.org

Is intelligence an absolute good? @robertwrighter.bsky.social and @paulbloomatyale.bsky.social disagree. Full discussion: youtu.be/KBlZ8AuWU1Q

The atomic age spawned creative thinking about its revolutionary security implications. The age of AI seems to be having roughly the opposite effect. My piece on the foreign policy establishment's big fail.

The new Blob is even scarier than the old one

With enemies like this, Skynet doesn't need friends

nonzero.org

I had a predictably illuminating conversation about the prospects for a US-Iran peace deal with Rob Malley, who played a lead role in negotiating the Obama nuclear deal with Iran.

NonZero@nonzeronews.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Can Trump and Iran Make a Deal? | Rob Malley—a lead negotiator for Obama’s 2015 nuclear deal with Iran—and @robertwrighter.bsky.social discuss what kind of deal between Trump and Iran is conceivable and what kinds of leverage both sides have.

If tech oligarchs block conventional channels for regulating AI, should they be surprised that some activists go to extremes? That doesn't justify the extremism, but it's worth bearing in mind. My piece in @NonzeroNews.bsky.social: www.nonzero.org/p/why-altman...

Why Altman (and AI) is under attack

First the New Yorker piece, then the Molotov cocktail...

nonzero.org