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When it comes to AI, Neo Ludditism has been the default response of the American Left for some time now. But if we accept that boycotting can only go so far, and that AI is probably here to stay in some form, what might a progressive platform regulating today’s frontier technologies actually look like? During a month marked by a fever pitch hysteria around AI, with AI employees resigning and warning of extinction-level risks, CEOs calling for a slowdown, and politicians proposing jail time for developing “superintelligence,” we jumped on the horn with writer, researcher, and technologist Joshua Dávila to make sense of this inflection point in the AI culture war—and what it might look like for the Left to play active role in shaping the technology’s future.

We discuss how the niche ideology of Rationalism has shaped Silicon Valley’s language of doomsday inevitability, and whether we should actually be alarmed; what we can learn about the American AI industry from contrasting it with the landscape in China and the EU, and what the “Medicare for All” of AI policy might look like, or whether that’s just… well, Medicare for All. Plus, Josh tells us about his new project All Models Are Wrong, a show and blog about AI, robotics, biotech, crypto, and “the political choices hidden inside every technological future.”

Follow Josh’s work at All Models are Wrong

Pieces discussed in the episode:

“The Long Doomsday of AI” by Joshua Rothman (The New Yorker)

“How Scared Should We Be of AI Right Now?” by Cal Newport (The New York Times)

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AI and the Left

The Culture Journalist

AI and the Left