Intelligent Machines (Audio) IM 838: Fat Bears Live Now! - Inside the AI Gold Rush
20 snips
Sep 25, 2025 
Join acclaimed technology journalist Steven Levy as he dives into the complexities of the AI gold rush. He discusses the importance of compensating authors when models train on their work, drawing parallels with music licensing. Levy also warns of AI's potential to centralize power, impacting startups and jobs. He shares insights on the cultural shifts in Silicon Valley and the risks of bad AI applications. Plus, with a nod to Fat Bear Week, it’s a mix of tech and wildlife that's both entertaining and thought-provoking!
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Pay Authors For Book Training
- Steven Levy shifted from skepticism to support for authors being paid when AI trains on books, seeing $3,000/book as reasonable compensation.
- He argues high-quality books are essential corpora for LLMs and deserve fair licensing rather than 1930s-style fair-use stretching.
Build Collective Licensing For Books
- Explore collective licensing like music to compensate authors and enable model training at scale.
- Design attribution or percentage-sharing mechanisms so outputs can trace and reward source works.
AI Accelerates Tech Centralization
- Levy sees AI accelerating centralization of power because models and infrastructure favor a few deep-pocketed companies.
- He warns massive infra costs and model capabilities will push consolidation rather than broad decentralization.
