In the pilot episode of We’re All Gonna Die, Mike Oreskes and Edie Lush speak with AI pioneer Stuart Russell about the race toward artificial general intelligence, why he compares it to an arms race, and why he believes today’s AI companies are taking risks on behalf of everyone else. The conversation moves from Musk v. OpenAI and existential risk to regulation, “safe by design” AI, public pressure, and the urgent question of whether humanity can slow down long enough to stay in control.

Chapters

00:00 Opening: Musk v. OpenAI and the AI safety warning

02:15 Meet Stuart Russell

02:58 The AGI arms race

04:35 The “six guys in an elevator” problem

09:50 How close are we to the edge?

13:21 Companies, governments, and the control problem

15:17 What would an AI Chernobyl look like?

20:23 Amazon, Alexa, and mocking AI risk

23:30 Why regulation does not have to kill innovation

28:02 Why “just unplug it” is not enough

31:18 What governments can do now

33:34 Where Stuart Russell sees hope

35:47 Safe-by-design AI

38:38 What listeners can do

41:21 Why this podcast exists

44:34 Slow down, think it through

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