Plain English with Derek Thompson How Superintelligent AI Could Upend Work and Politics
214 snips
Nov 18, 2025 
In this thought-provoking conversation, economist Anton Korinek from the University of Virginia dives into the implications of artificial general intelligence (AGI). He discusses the swift potential for AI to disrupt white-collar jobs, the urgency of proactive policies to prevent an 'AGI Great Depression,' and the distinction between quiet and loud AGI. Anton emphasizes the importance of measuring AGI's progress, how robotics will accelerate following cognitive automation, and the looming political risks of mass unemployment, urging for solutions to support those left behind.
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Neural Nets Mirror The Brain
- Neural networks scale and may reproduce general intelligence because biological brains are proof of concept.
- Anton Korinek argues this similarity makes AGI a plausible medium-term outcome.
No Single AGI Indicator Exists
- Progress indicators are noisy and no single benchmark proves AGI is near.
- Korinek tracks rapid capability gains and warns extrapolation can mislead but is informative.
Host Tests Models Across Tasks
- Derek described using ChatGPT for editing, summarizing, and math across topics in one morning.
- He asked why those abilities don't already count as AGI given cross-domain performance.
