Until now, we’ve approached AI on the show as something we all need to experiment with, adapt to, and lean into. Today, we are taking a different approach. 

This is the episode where we share our frank views on where the world is at with AI development, and why the governance gap between what’s being built and how it’s being governed keeps us awake at night. We’re not here to alarm you but we do think this is a conversation we all need to be a part of. The good news is that plenty of others think this is important too.

We talk about Pope Leo XIV’s remarkable encyclical Magnifica Humanitas and the fact that he invited Anthropic co-founder Christopher Olah to speak alongside him at its launch. What Olah said is under-reported yet very significant. 

And now, the very morning after we recorded this, Anthropic has published a major blog piece on where AI model development is heading and they also included clear calls for a global slow down on frontier model development: “If it were possible to effectively slow the development of this technology to give ourselves more time to deal with its immense implications, we think that would likely be a good thing.” 

The timing of this significant post just emphasises to us what an important window of time we are in right now. 

In this episode you’ll hear:

• The astonishing AI city simulation that raises uncomfortable questions about autonomous agents left to their own devices
• Why voices from inside the AI industry itself are now calling loudly for oversight and regulation
• What the Pope’s encyclical says about power, purpose, and who AI should serve
• Why the state of Illinois just passed what many are calling America’s strongest AI safety legislation yet, and 
• Simple, concrete ways each of us can make our voices count

This is the episode for those who want agency and to be pawns engaged citizens of the world. 

 

 

Useful Links

Pope Leo XIV’s Encyclical letter

Anthropic’s June 4th blog 

Emergence AI Agent Experiment Info