AI is going to affect us all and everyone has opinions about it. But what does the data say?

In this episode of Policy Prompt, Vass and Paul welcome Nestor Maslej from Stanford University’s Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence, where he is the research manager of the AI Index and the Global AI Vibrancy Tool. In developing tools that track the advancement of AI, Nestor hopes to make the AI space more accessible to policy makers, business leaders and the lay public. Nestor discusses the excitement and fears surrounding this fast-moving technology and the importance of quantitative data in AI myth busting. “At the Index, we really feel that to make good decisions about this tech, whether you are in a boardroom, in a Parliament, or simply sitting in your living room, you need to have access to data and you have to actually understand what is going on with this technology.”

In-Show Clips:

00:10:55: CNBC, “How China’s New AI Model DeepSeek Is Threatening U.S. Dominance” (YouTube, January 24, 2025)
00:30:11: Yahoo Finance, “What is the CHIPS act? The semiconductor bill with bipartisan support (and criticism)” (YouTube, July 20, 2022)
00:41:07: The AI Navigator, “What is Jevons Paradox and how could it apply to AI?” (YouTube, May 2, 2024)

Mentioned:

The Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI: https://hai.stanford.edu/about
The Stanford AI Index: https://hai.stanford.edu/ai-index
The Stanford Global AI Vibrancy Tool: https://hai.stanford.edu/ai-index/global-vibrancy-tool
Jevons paradox: Greg Rosalsky, “Why the AI world is suddenly obsessed with a 160-year-old economics paradox” (NPR, February 4, 2025)

Further Reading:

Nestor Maslej’s bio: https://profiles.stanford.edu/nestor-maslej
Nestor Maslej, Loredana Fattorini, Raymond Perrault, Vanessa Parli, Anka Reuel, Erik Brynjolfsson, John Etchemendy, Katrina Ligett, Terah * Lyons, James Manyika, Juan Carlos Niebles, Yoav Shoham, Russell Wald and Jack Clark, Artificial Intelligence Index Report 2024 (Stanford, CA: Institute for Human-Centered AI, Stanford University, April 2024)

Credits:
Policy Prompt is produced by Vass Bednar and Paul Samson. Our technical producers are Tim Lewis and Melanie DeBonte. Fact-checking and background research provided by Reanne Cayenne. Marketing by Kahlan Thomson. Brand design by Abhilasha Dewan and creative direction by Som Tsoi.

Original music by Joshua Snethlage.

Sound mix and mastering by François Goudreault.

Special thanks to creative consultant Ken Ogasawara.

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