Human autonomy faces its greatest test yet. As artificial intelligence evolves, a fundamental question emerges: will AI enhance our capacity for self-rule or quietly erode it? In this episode of Working Intelligence: Making Americans Irreplaceable, Harry Law — researcher at the University of Cambridge and the Cosmos Institute, and former policy and ethics lead at Google DeepMind — offers a philosopher's perspective on navigating the age of algorithmic ubiquity.
Join Harry Law and Sophie Singletary as they explore the crucial distinction between AI that "clears space" for human flourishing versus AI that simply "fills space" in our lives. Law unpacks how shared constraints between minds and machines could make AI more beneficial, why AI's challenge to judgment might paradoxically strengthen our decision-making, and where we stand on the ladder toward AGI.
This is a conversation about user-selectable guardrails creating a more pluralistic information ecosystem and why the future of AI governance must balance innovation with genuine human agency. Law shares why our capacity for autonomous judgment remains irreplaceable — even as the machines grow smarter.