The Last Invention EP 4: Speedrun
403 snips
Oct 16, 2025 
In a compelling discussion, Andy Mills, a reporter and producer, teams up with Karen Hao, journalist and author of 'Empire of AI', to explore the frantic race in AI development sparked by fears of existential risk. They delve into the paradox of creating powerful AI to ensure safety, revealing how Elon Musk and others shifted from warning against AI to building it themselves. Their insights on the competition's influence on advancements like ChatGPT and the ongoing debates about safety and corporate responsibility are both captivating and thought-provoking.
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Talent Poached By A Shared AGI Mission
- OpenAI recruited top researchers from Google and new PhD grads by selling a mission-driven quest for AGI.
- They attracted both 'doomers' focused on safety and 'accelerationists' seeking utopia.
AlphaGo’s Self-Play Leap
- DeepMind’s AlphaGo used self-play to iterate far beyond human practice and beat top players.
- That public victory convinced many that AI could develop creative, intuitive moves humans never found.
Move 37 Changed How People Saw AI
- AlphaGo's novel moves revealed neural nets' black-box creativity and shifted perceptions of AI capability.
- That moment signaled a new era and intensified competition across Silicon Valley.
