80k After Hours

Highlights: #213 – Will MacAskill on AI causing a “century in a decade” — and how we’re completely unprepared

Mar 25, 2025

Will MacAskill, a philosopher and AI safety researcher at the Forethought Centre, discusses the staggering potential of AI to compress a century's worth of change into a mere decade. He emphasizes the urgent need to prepare for rapid societal shifts and explores what a positive future with AGI might look like. MacAskill raises crucial concerns about the risks of societal lock-in and public distrust in utopian visions. He also delves into the ethical dilemmas surrounding AGI development and its profound impacts on governance and social values.

33:35

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Will MacAskill

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Quick takeaways

The podcast highlights the unprecedented pace of technological change predicted to compress a century’s worth of progress into merely a decade, creating governance challenges.

There is a pressing concern regarding the ethical coexistence of advanced AI with humanity, emphasizing the need for adaptable decision-making frameworks to avoid rigid ideologies.

Deep dives

Accelerated Technological Progress

The discussion emphasizes the rapid pace of technological advancement, envisioning a scenario where a century’s worth of progress occurs within a mere decade. This hypothetical situation would encompass groundbreaking innovations, such as the development of nuclear weapons, the internet, and AI, alongside significant social and political changes like decolonization and various ideological movements. It highlights the notion that human decision-making and institutions do not evolve at the same speed, creating potential governance challenges. Historical events like the Cuban Missile Crisis illustrate the dangers inherent in accelerated decision-making where critical choices must be made within drastically shortened timeframes.

Intro

3min

Navigating AI's Ethical Landscape

11min

The Risks and Realities of Societal Lock-In

3min

The Power of AGI: Shaping Society's Future

6min

Utopianism and Its Dystopian Pitfalls

6min

AI and Society: Navigating Ethical Transformations

3min

The 20th century saw unprecedented change: nuclear weapons, satellites, the rise and fall of communism, third-wave feminism, the internet, postmodernism, game theory, genetic engineering, the Big Bang theory, quantum mechanics, birth control, and more. Now imagine all of it compressed into just 10 years.

That’s the future Will MacAskill — philosopher and researcher at the Forethought Centre for AI Strategy — argues we need to prepare for in his new paper “Preparing for the intelligence explosion.” Not in the distant future, but probably in three to seven years.

These highlights are from episode #213 of The 80,000 Hours Podcast: Will MacAskill on AI causing a “century in a decade” — and how we’re completely unprepared, and include:

Rob's intro (00:00:00)
A century of history crammed into a decade (00:00:17)
What does a good future with AGI even look like? (00:04:48)
AI takeover might happen anyway — should we rush to load in our values? (00:09:29)
Lock-in is plausible where it never was before (00:14:40)
ML researchers are feverishly working to destroy their own power (00:20:07)
People distrust utopianism for good reason (00:24:30)
Non-technological disruption (00:29:18)
The 3 intelligence explosions (00:31:10)

These aren't necessarily the most important or even most entertaining parts of the interview — so if you enjoy this, we strongly recommend checking out the full episode!

And if you're finding these highlights episodes valuable, please let us know by emailing podcast@80000hours.org.

Highlights put together by Simon Monsour, Milo McGuire, and Dominic Armstrong

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80k After Hours

Highlights: #213 – Will MacAskill on AI causing a “century in a decade” — and how we’re completely unprepared

Episode guests

Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

Deep dives

Accelerated Technological Progress

Challenges of Human and AI Coexistence

Moral Decision-Making and Lock-in Risks

The Role of AI Researchers

Remember Everything You Learn from Podcasts