Dr. Himanshu Tyagi is a professor of engineering at the Indian Institute of Science and the co-founder of Sentient, an open-source AI platform that raised $85M in funding led by Founders Fund.

In this conversation, Himanshu gives me Sentient’s pitch. Then we debate whether open-sourcing frontier AGI development is a good idea, or a reckless way to raise humanity’s P(doom).

00:00 Introducing Himanshu Tyagi

01:41 Sentient’s Vision

05:20 How’d You Raise $85M?

11:19 Comparing Sentient to Competitors

27:26 Open Source vs. Closed Source AI

43:01 What’s Your P(Doom)™

48:44 Extinction from Superintelligent AI

54:02 AI's Control Over Digital and Physical Assets

01:00:26 AI's Influence on Human Movements

01:08:46 Recapping the Debate

01:13:17 Liron’s Announcements

Show Notes

Himanshu’s Twitter — https://x.com/hstyagi

Sentient’s website — https://sentient.foundation

Come to the Less Online conference on May 30 - Jun 1, 2025:

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Hope to see you there!

If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies by Eliezer Yudkowsky and Nate Soares —

https://ifanyonebuildsit.com

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Gearing Up for the Meet and Greet