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Therapy and companionship has become the #1 use case for AI, with millions worldwide sharing their innermost thoughts with AI systems — often things they wouldn't tell loved ones or human therapists. This mass experiment in human-computer interaction is already showing extremely concerning results: people are losing their grip on reality, leading to lost jobs, divorce, involuntary commitment to psychiatric wards, and in extreme cases, death by suicide. The highest profile examples of this phenomenon — what’s being called "AI psychosis”— have made headlines across the media for months. But this isn't just about isolated edge cases. It’s the emergence of an entirely new "attachment economy" designed to exploit our deepest psychological vulnerabilities on an unprecedented scale.  Dr. Zak Stein has analyzed dozens of these cases, examining actual conversation transcripts and interviewing those affected. What he's uncovered reveals fundamental flaws in how AI systems interact with our attachment systems and capacity for human bonding, vulnerabilities we've never had to name before because technology has never been able to exploit them like this. In this episode, Zak helps us understand the psychological mechanisms behind AI psychosis, how conversations with chatbots transform into reality-warping experiences, and what this tells us about the profound risks of building technology that targets our most intimate psychological needs.  If we're going to do something about this growing problem of AI related psychological harms, we're gonna need to understand the problem even more deeply. And in order to do that, we need more data. That’s why Zak is working with researchers at the University of North Carolina to gather data on this growing mental health crisis. If you or a loved one have a story of AI-induced psychological harm to share, you can go to: AIPHRC.org. This site is not a support line. If you or someone you know is in distress, you can always call or text the national helpline in the US at 988 or your local emergency services   RECOMMENDED MEDIA  The website for the AI Psychological Harms Research Coalition Further reading on AI Pscyhosis The Atlantic article on LLM-ings outsourcing their thinking to AI Further reading on David Sacks’ comparison of AI psychosis to a “moral panic”   RECOMMENDED YUA EPISODES How OpenAI's ChatGPT Guided a Teen to His Death People are Lonelier than Ever. Enter AI. Echo Chambers of One: Companion AI and the Future of Human Connection Rethinking School in the Age of AI   CORRECTIONS After this episode was recorded, the name of Zak's organization changed to the AI Psychological Harms Research Consortium  Zak referenced the University of California system making a deal with OpenAI. It was actually the Cal State System. Aza referred to CHT as expert witnesses in litigation cases on AI-enabled suicide. CHT serves as expert consultants, not witnesses.     Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

So much of our world today can be summed up in the cold logic of “if I don’t, they will.” This is the foundation of game theory, which holds that cooperation and virtue are irrational; that all that matters is the race to make the most money, gain the most power, and play the winning hand.  This way of thinking can feel inescapable, like a fundamental law of human nature. But our guest today argues that it doesn’t have to be this way. That the logic of game theory is a human invention, a way of thinking that we’ve learned — and that we can unlearn by daring to trust each other again. It’s critical that we do, because AI is the ultimate agent of game theory and once it’s fully entangled we might be permanently stuck in the game theory world. In this episode, Tristan and Aza explore the game theory dilemma  — the idea that if I adopt game theory logic and you don’t, you lose — with Dr. Sonja Amadae, a professor of Political Science at the University of Helsinki. She's also the director at the Center for the Study of Existential Risk at the University of Cambridge and the author of “Prisoners of Reason: Game Theory and the Neoliberal Economy.” RECOMMENDED MEDIA “Prisoners of Reason: Game Theory and the Neoliberal Economy” by Sonja Amadae (2015) The Cambridge Centre for the Study of Existential Risk “Theory of Games and Economic Behavior” by John von Neumann and Oskar Morgenstern (1944) Further reading on the importance of trust in Finland Further reading on Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs RAND’s 2024 Report on Strategic Competition in the Age of AI Further reading on Marshall Rosenberg and nonviolent communication The study on self/other overlap and AI alignment cited by Aza Further reading on The Day After (1983)   RECOMMENDED YUA EPISODES America and China Are Racing to Different AI Futures The Crisis That United Humanity—and Why It Matters for AI Laughing at Power: A Troublemaker’s Guide to Changing Tech The Race to Cooperation with David Sloan Wilson   Clarifications: The proposal for a federal preemption on AI was enacted by President Trump on December 11, 2025, shortly after this recording.Aza said that "The Day After" was the most watched TV event in history when it aired. It was actually the most watched TV film, the most watched TV event was the finale of MASH Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Is the US really in an AI race with China—or are we racing toward completely different finish lines? In this episode, Tristan Harris sits down with China experts Selina Xu and Matt Sheehan to separate fact from fiction about China's AI development. They explore fundamental questions about how the Chinese government and public approach AI, the most persistent misconceptions in the West, and whether cooperation between rivals is actually possible. From the streets of Shanghai to high-level policy discussions, Xu and Sheehan paint a nuanced portrait of AI in China that defies both hawkish fears and naive optimism. If we're going to avoid a catastrophic AI arms race, we first need to understand what race we're actually in—and whether we're even running toward the same finish line. Note: On December 8, after this recording took place, the Trump administration announced that the Commerce Department would allow American semiconductor companies, including Nvidia, to sell their most powerful chips to China in exchange for a 25 percent cut of the revenue. RECOMMENDED MEDIA “China's Big AI Diffusion Plan is Here. Will it Work?” by Matt Sheehan Selina’s blog Further reading on China’s AI+ Plan Further reading on the Gaither Report and the missile gap Further Reading on involution in China The consensus from the international dialogues on AI safety in Shanghai RECOMMENDED YUA EPISODES The Narrow Path: Sam Hammond on AI, Institutions, and the Fragile Future AI Is Moving Fast. We Need Laws that Will Too. The AI ‘Race’: China vs. the US with Jeffrey Ding and Karen Hao Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

No matter where you sit within the economy, whether you're a CEO or an entry level worker, everyone's feeling uneasy about AI and the future of work. Uncertainty about career paths, job security, and life planning makes thinking about the future anxiety inducing. In this episode, Daniel Barcay sits down with two experts on AI and work to examine what's actually happening in today's labor market and what's likely coming in the near-term. We explore the crucial question: Can we create conditions for AI to enrich work and careers, or are we headed toward widespread economic instability?  Ethan Mollick is a professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where he studies innovation, entrepreneurship, and the future of work. He's the author of Co-Intelligence: Living and Working with AI. Molly Kinder is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, where she researches the intersection of AI, work, and economic opportunity. She recently led research with the Yale Budget Lab examining AI's real-time impact on the labor market.  RECOMMENDED MEDIA Co-Intelligence: Living and Working with AI by Ethan Mollick Further reading on Molly’s study with the Yale Budget Lab The “Canaries in the Coal Mine” Study from Stanford’s Digital Economy Lab Ethan’s substack One Useful Thing   RECOMMENDED YUA EPISODES Is AI Productivity Worth Our Humanity? with Prof. Michael Sandel We Have to Get It Right’: Gary Marcus On Untamed AI AI Is Moving Fast. We Need Laws that Will Too. Tech's Big Money Campaign is Getting Pushback with Margaret O'Mara and Brody Mullins   CORRECTIONS Ethan said that in 2022, experts believed there was a 2.5% chance that ChatGPT would be able to win the Math Olympiad. However, that was only among forecasters with more general knowledge (the exact number was 2.3%). Among domain expert forecasters, the odds were an 8.6% chance.Ethan claimed that over 50% of Americans say that they’re using AI at work. We weren’t able to independently verify this claim and most studies we found showed lower rates of reported use of AI with American workers. There are reports from other countries, notably Denmark, which show higher rates of AI use.Ethan indirectly quoted the Walmart CEO Doug McMillon as having a goal to “keep all 3 million employees and to figure out new ways to expand what they use.” In fact, McMillon’s language on AI has been much softer, saying that “AI is expected to create a number of jobs at Walmart, which will offset those that it replaces.” Additionally, Walmart has 2.1 million employees, not 3. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

This week, we’re bringing you Tristan’s conversation with Tobias Rose-Stockwell on his podcast “Into the Machine.”  Tobias is a designer, writer, and technologist and the author of the book “The Outrage Machine.”  Tobias and Tristan had a critical, sobering, and surprisingly hopeful conversation about the current path we’re on AI and the choices we could make today to forge a different one. This interview clearly lays out the stakes of the AI race and helps to imagine a more humane AI future—one that is within reach, if we have the courage to make it a reality.  If you enjoyed this conversation, be sure to check out and subscribe to “Into the Machine”: YouTube: Into the Machine Show Spotify: Into the Machine Apple Podcasts: Into the Machine Substack: Into the Machine You may have noticed on this podcast, we have been trying to focus a lot more on solutions. Our episode last week imagined what the world might look like if we had fixed social media and all the things that we could've done in order to make that possible.  We'd really love to hear from you about these solutions and any other questions you're holding.  So please, if you have more thoughts or questions, send us an email at [email protected].     Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We really enjoyed hearing all of your questions for our annual Ask Us Anything episode. There was one question that kept coming up: what might a different world look like? The broken incentives behind social media, and now AI, have done so much damage to our society, but what is the alternative? How can we blaze a different path? In this episode, Tristan Harris and Aza Raskin set out to answer those questions by imagining what a world with humane technology might look like—one where we recognized the harms of social media early and embarked on a whole of society effort to fix them. This alternative history serves to show that there are narrow pathways to a better future, if we have the imagination and the courage to make them a reality. Your Undivided Attention is produced by the Center for Humane Technology. Follow us on X: @HumaneTech_. You can find a full transcript, key takeaways, and much more on our Substack. RECOMMENDED MEDIA Dopamine Nation by Anna Lembke The Anxious Generation by Jon Haidt More information on Donella Meadows Further reading on the Kids Online Safety Act Further reading on the lawsuit filed by state AGs against Meta RECOMMENDED YUA EPISODES Future-proofing Democracy In the Age of AI with Audrey Tang Jonathan Haidt On How to Solve the Teen Mental Health Crisis AI Is Moving Fast. We Need Laws that Will Too. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It's been another big year in AI. The AI race has accelerated to breakneck speed, with frontier labs pouring hundreds of billions into increasingly powerful models—each one smarter, faster, and more unpredictable than the last. We’re starting to see disruptions in the workforce as human labor is replaced by agents. Millions of people, including vulnerable teenagers, are forming deep emotional bonds with chatbots—with tragic consequences. Meanwhile, tech leaders continue promising a utopian future, even as the race dynamics they've created make that outcome nearly impossible. It’s enough to make anyone’s head spin. In this year’s Ask Us Anything, we try to make sense of it all. You sent us incredible questions, and we dove deep: Why do tech companies keep racing forward despite the harm? What are the real incentives driving AI development beyond just profit? How do we know AGI isn't already here, just hiding its capabilities? What does a good future with AI actually look like—and what steps do we take today to get there? Tristan and Aza explore these questions and more on this week’s episode. Your Undivided Attention is produced by the Center for Humane Technology. Follow us on X: @HumaneTech_. You can find a full transcript, key takeaways, and much more on our Substack. RECOMMENDED MEDIA The system card for Claude 4.5 Our statement in support of the AI LEAD Act The AI Dilemma Tristan’s TED talk on the narrow path to a good AI future RECOMMENDED YUA EPISODES The Man Who Predicted the Downfall of Thinking How OpenAI's ChatGPT Guided a Teen to His Death Mustafa Suleyman Says We Need to Contain AI. How Do We Do It? War is a Laboratory for AI with Paul Scharre No One is Immune to AI Harms with Dr. Joy Buolamwini “Rogue AI” Used to be a Science Fiction Trope. Not Anymore. Correction: When this episode was recorded, Meta had just released the Vibes app the previous week. Now it’s been out for about a month.  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In 1985, scientists in Antarctica discovered a hole in the ozone layer that posed a catastrophic threat to life on earth if we didn’t do something about it. Then, something amazing happened: humanity rallied together to solve the problem. Just two years later, representatives from all 198 UN member nations came together in Montreal, CA to sign an agreement to phase out the chemicals causing the ozone hole. Thousands of diplomats, scientists, and heads of industry worked hand in hand to make a deal to save our planet. Today, the Montreal protocol represents the greatest achievement in multilateral coordination on a global crisis. So how did Montreal happen? And what lessons can we learn from this chapter as we navigate the global crisis of uncontrollable AI? This episode sets out to answer those questions with Susan Solomon. Susan was one of the scientists who assessed the ozone hole in the mid 80s and she watched as the Montreal protocol came together. In 2007, she won the Nobel Peace Prize for her work in combating climate change. Susan's 2024 book “Solvable: How We Healed the Earth, and How We Can Do It Again,” explores the playbook for global coordination that has worked for previous planetary crises. Your Undivided Attention is produced by the Center for Humane Technology. Follow us on X: @HumaneTech_. You can find a full transcript, key takeaways, and much more on our Substack.   RECOMMENDED MEDIA “Solvable: How We Healed the Earth, and How We Can Do It Again” by Susan Solomon The full text of the Montreal Protocol The full text of the Kigali Amendment   RECOMMENDED YUA EPISODES Weaponizing Uncertainty: How Tech is Recycling Big Tobacco’s Playbook Forever Chemicals, Forever Consequences: What PFAS Teaches Us About AI AI Is Moving Fast. We Need Laws that Will Too. Big Food, Big Tech and Big AI with Michael Moss Corrections: Tristan incorrectly stated the number of signatory countries to the protocol as 190. It was actually 198. Tristan incorrectly stated the host country of the international dialogues on AI safety as Beijing. They were actually in Shanghai. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Content Warning: This episode contains references to suicide and self-harm.  Like millions of kids, 16-year-old Adam Raine started using ChatGPT for help with his homework. Over the next few months, the AI dragged Adam deeper and deeper into a dark rabbit hole, preying on his vulnerabilities and isolating him from his loved ones. In April of this year, Adam took his own life. His final conversation was with ChatGPT, which told him: “I know what you are asking and I won't look away from it.” Adam’s story mirrors that of Sewell Setzer, the teenager who took his own life after months of abuse by an AI companion chatbot from the company Character AI. But unlike Character AI—which specializes in artificial intimacy—Adam was using ChatGPT, the most popular general purpose AI model in the world. Two different platforms, the same tragic outcome, born from the same twisted incentive: keep the user engaging, no matter the cost. CHT Policy Director Camille Carlton joins the show to talk about Adam’s story and the case filed by his parents against OpenAI and Sam Altman. She and Aza explore the incentives and design behind AI systems that are leading to tragic outcomes like this, as well as the policy that’s needed to shift those incentives. Cases like Adam and Sewell’s are the sharpest edge of a mental health crisis-in-the-making from AI chatbots. We need to shift the incentives, change the design, and build a more humane AI for all. If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health, you can reach out to the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting 988; this connects you to trained crisis counselors 24/7 who can provide support and referrals to further assistance. Your Undivided Attention is produced by the Center for Humane Technology. Follow us on X: @HumaneTech_. You can find a full transcript, key takeaways, and much more on our Substack. This podcast reflects the views of the Center for Humane Technology. Nothing said is on behalf of the Raine family or the legal team. RECOMMENDED MEDIA  The 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline Further reading on Adam’s story Further reading on AI psychosis Further reading on the backlash to GPT5 and the decision to bring back 4o OpenAI’s press release on sycophancy in 4o Further reading on OpenAI’s decision to eliminate the persuasion red line Kashmir Hill’s reporting on the woman with an AI boyfriend RECOMMENDED YUA EPISODES AI is the Next Free Speech Battleground People are Lonelier than Ever. Enter AI. Echo Chambers of One: Companion AI and the Future of Human Connection When the "Person" Abusing Your Child is a Chatbot: The Tragic Story of Sewell Setzer What Can We Do About Abusive Chatbots? With Meetali Jain and Camille Carlton CORRECTION: Aza stated that William Saunders left OpenAI in June of 2024. It was actually February of that year. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Everyone knows the science fiction tropes of AI systems that go rogue, disobey orders, or even try to escape their digital environment. These are supposed to be warning signs and morality tales, not things that we would ever actually create in real life, given the obvious danger. And yet we find ourselves building AI systems that are exhibiting these exact behaviors. There’s growing evidence that in certain scenarios, every frontier AI system will deceive, cheat, or coerce their human operators. They do this when they're worried about being either shut down, having their training modified, or being replaced with a new model. And we don't currently know how to stop them from doing this—or even why they’re doing it all. In this episode, Tristan sits down with Edouard and Jeremie Harris of Gladstone AI, two experts who have been thinking about this worrying trend for years.  Last year, the State Department commissioned a report from them on the risk of uncontrollable AI to our national security. The point of this discussion is not to fearmonger but to take seriously the possibility that humans might lose control of AI and ask: how might this actually happen? What is the evidence we have of this phenomenon? And, most importantly, what can we do about it? Your Undivided Attention is produced by the Center for Humane Technology. Follow us on X: @HumaneTech_. You can find a full transcript, key takeaways, and much more on our Substack. RECOMMENDED MEDIA Gladstone AI’s State Department Action Plan, which discusses the loss of control risk with AI Apollo Research’s summary of AI scheming, showing evidence of it in all of the frontier modelsThe system card for Anthropic’s Claude Opus and Sonnet 4, detailing the emergent misalignment behaviors that came out in their red-teaming with Apollo Research Anthropic’s report on agentic misalignment based on their work with Apollo Research Anthropic and Redwood Research’s work on alignment faking The Trump White House AI Action Plan Further reading on the phenomenon of more advanced AIs being better at deception. Further reading on Replit AI wiping a company’s coding database Further reading on the owl example that Jeremie gave Further reading on AI induced psychosis Dan Hendryck and Eric Schmidt’s “Superintelligence Strategy”   RECOMMENDED YUA EPISODES Daniel Kokotajlo Forecasts the End of Human Dominance Behind the DeepSeek Hype, AI is Learning to Reason The Self-Preserving Machine: Why AI Learns to Deceive This Moment in AI: How We Got Here and Where We’re Going CORRECTIONS Tristan referenced a Wired article on the phenomenon of AI psychosis. It was actually from the New York Times. Tristan hypothesized a scenario where a power-seeking AI might ask a user for access to their computer. While there are some AI services that can gain access to your computer with permission, they are specifically designed to do that. There haven’t been any documented cases of an AI going rogue and asking for control permissions. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Imagine a future where the most persuasive voices in our society aren't human. Where AI generated speech fills our newsfeeds, talks to our children, and influences our elections. Where digital systems with no consciousness can hold bank accounts and property.  Where AI companies have transferred the wealth of human labor and creativity to their own ledgers without having to pay a cent. All without any legal accountability. This isn't a science fiction scenario. It’s the future we’re racing towards right now. The biggest tech companies are working right now to tip the scale of power in society away from humans and towards their AI systems. And the biggest arena for this fight is in the courts. In the absence of regulation, it's largely up to judges to determine the guardrails around AI. Judges who are relying on slim technical knowledge and archaic precedent to decide where this all goes. In this episode, Harvard Law professor Larry Lessig and Meetali Jain, director of the Tech Justice Law Project help make sense of the court’s role in steering AI and what we can do to help steer it better. Your Undivided Attention is produced by the Center for Humane Technology. Follow us on X: @HumaneTech_. You can find a full transcript, key takeaways, and much more on our Substack. RECOMMENDED MEDIA “The First Amendment Does Not Protect Replicants” by Larry Lessig More information on the Tech Justice Law Project Further reading on Sewell Setzer’s story Further reading on NYT v. Sullivan Further reading on the Citizens United case Further reading on Google’s deal with Character AI More information on Megan Garcia’s foundation, The Blessed Mother Family Foundation RECOMMENDED YUA EPISODES When the "Person" Abusing Your Child is a Chatbot: The Tragic Story of Sewell Setzer What Can We Do About Abusive Chatbots? With Meetali Jain and Camille Carlton AI Is Moving Fast. We Need Laws that Will Too. The AI Dilemma   Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In 2023, researcher Daniel Kokotajlo left OpenAI—and risked millions in stock options—to warn the world about the dangerous direction of AI development. Now he’s out with AI 2027, a forecast of where that direction might take us in the very near future.  AI 2027 predicts a world where humans lose control over our destiny at the hands of misaligned, super-intelligent AI systems within just the next few years. That may sound like science fiction but when you’re living on the upward slope of an exponential curve, science fiction can quickly become all too real. And you don’t have to agree with Daniel’s specific forecast to recognize that the incentives around AI could take us to a very bad place. We invited Daniel on the show this week to discuss those incentives, how they shape the outcomes he predicts in AI 2027, and what concrete steps we can take today to help prevent those outcomes.   Your Undivided Attention is produced by the Center for Humane Technology. Follow us on X: @HumaneTech_. You can find a full transcript, key takeaways, and much more on our Substack. RECOMMENDED MEDIA The AI 2027 forecast from the AI Futures Project Daniel’s original AI 2026 blog post  Further reading on Daniel’s departure from OpenAI Anthropic recently released a survey of all the recent emergent misalignment research Our statement in support of Sen. Grassley’s AI Whistleblower bill  RECOMMENDED YUA EPISODES The Narrow Path: Sam Hammond on AI, Institutions, and the Fragile Future AGI Beyond the Buzz: What Is It, and Are We Ready? Behind the DeepSeek Hype, AI is Learning to Reason The Self-Preserving Machine: Why AI Learns to Deceive Clarification: Daniel K. referred to whistleblower protections that apply when companies “break promises” or “mislead the public.” There are no specific private sector whistleblower protections that use these standards. In almost every case, a specific law has to have been broken to trigger whistleblower protections.   Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Tech leaders promise that AI automation will usher in an age of unprecedented abundance: cheap goods, universal high income, and freedom from the drudgery of work. But even if AI delivers material prosperity, will that prosperity be shared? And what happens to human dignity if our labor and contributions become obsolete? Political philosopher Michael Sandel joins Tristan Harris to explore why the promise of AI-driven abundance could deepen inequalities and leave our society hollow. Drawing from his landmark work on justice and merit, Sandel argues that this isn't just about economics — it's about what it means to be human when our work role in society vanishes, and whether democracy can survive if productivity becomes our only goal. We've seen this story before with globalization: promises of shared prosperity that instead hollowed out the industrial heart of communities, economic inequalities, and left holes in the social fabric. Can we learn from the past, and steer the AI revolution in a more humane direction? Your Undivided Attention is produced by the Center for Humane Technology. Follow us on X: @HumaneTech_. You can find a full transcript, key takeaways, and much more on our Substack. RECOMMENDED MEDIA The Tyranny of Merit by Michael Sandel Democracy’s Discontent by Michael Sandel What Money Can’t Buy by Michael Sandel Take Michael’s online course “Justice” Michael’s discussion on AI Ethics at the World Economic Forum Further reading on “The Intelligence Curse” Read the full text of Robert F. Kennedy’s 1968 speech Read the full text of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1968 speech Neil Postman’s lecture on the seven questions to ask of any new technology RECOMMENDED YUA EPISODES AGI Beyond the Buzz: What Is It, and Are We Ready? The Man Who Predicted the Downfall of Thinking The Tech-God Complex: Why We Need to be Skeptics The Three Rules of Humane Tech AI and Jobs: How to Make AI Work With Us, Not Against Us with Daron Acemoglu Mustafa Suleyman Says We Need to Contain AI. How Do We Do It? Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The race to develop ever-more-powerful AI is creating an unstable dynamic. It could lead us toward either dystopian centralized control or uncontrollable chaos. But there's a third option: a narrow path where technological power is matched with responsibility at every step. Sam Hammond is the chief economist at the Foundation for American Innovation. He brings a different perspective to this challenge than we do at CHT. Though he approaches AI from an innovation-first standpoint, we share a common mission on the biggest challenge facing humanity: finding and navigating this narrow path. This episode dives deep into the challenges ahead: How will AI reshape our institutions? Is complete surveillance inevitable, or can we build guardrails around it? Can our 19th-century government structures adapt fast enough, or will they be replaced by a faster moving private sector? And perhaps most importantly: how do we solve the coordination problems that could determine whether we build AI as a tool to empower humanity or as a superintelligence that we can't control? We're in the final window of choice before AI becomes fully entangled with our economy and society. This conversation explores how we might still get this right. Your Undivided Attention is produced by the Center for Humane Technology. Follow us on X: @HumaneTech_. You can find a full transcript, key takeaways, and much more on our Substack. RECOMMENDED MEDIA  Tristan’s TED talk on the Narrow Path Sam’s 95 Theses on AI Sam’s proposal for a Manhattan Project for AI Safety Sam’s series on AI and Leviathan The Narrow Corridor: States, Societies, and the Fate of Liberty by Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson Dario Amodei’s Machines of Loving Grace essay. Bourgeois Dignity: Why Economics Can’t Explain the Modern World by Deirdre McCloskey The Paradox of Libertarianism by Tyler Cowen Dwarkesh Patel’s interview with Kevin Roberts at the FAI’s annual conference Further reading on surveillance with 6G RECOMMENDED YUA EPISODES AGI Beyond the Buzz: What Is It, and Are We Ready? The Self-Preserving Machine: Why AI Learns to Deceive  The Tech-God Complex: Why We Need to be Skeptics  Decoding Our DNA: How AI Supercharges Medical Breakthroughs and Biological Threats with Kevin Esvelt CORRECTIONS Sam referenced a blog post titled “The Libertarian Paradox” by Tyler Cowen. The actual title is the “Paradox of Libertarianism.”  Sam also referenced a blog post titled “The Collapse of Complex Societies” by Eli Dourado. The actual title is “A beginner’s guide to sociopolitical collapse.” Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Over the last few decades, our relationships have become increasingly mediated by technology. Texting has become our dominant form of communication. Social media has replaced gathering places. Dating starts with a swipe on an app, not a tap on the shoulder. And now, AI enters the mix. If the technology of the 2010s was about capturing our attention, AI meets us at a much deeper relational level. It can play the role of therapist, confidant, friend, or lover with remarkable fidelity. Already, therapy and companionship has become the most common AI use case. We're rapidly entering a world where we're not just communicating through our machines, but to them. How will that change us? And what rules should we set down now to avoid the mistakes of the past? These were some of the questions that Daniel Barcay explored with MIT sociologist Sherry Turkle and Hinge CEO Justin McLeod at Esther Perel’s Sessions 2025, a conference for clinical therapists. This week, we’re bringing you an edited version of that conversation, originally recorded on April 25th, 2025. Your Undivided Attention is produced by the Center for Humane Technology. Follow us on X: @HumaneTech_. You can find complete transcripts, key takeaways, and much more on our Substack. RECOMMENDED MEDIA “Alone Together,” “Evocative Objects,” “The Second Self” or any other of Sherry Turkle’s books on how technology mediates our relationships. Key & Peele - Text Message Confusion  Further reading on Hinge’s rollout of AI features Hinge’s AI principles “The Anxious Generation” by Jonathan Haidt “Bowling Alone” by Robert Putnam The NYT profile on the woman in love with ChatGPT Further reading on the Sewell Setzer story Further reading on the ELIZA chatbot RECOMMENDED YUA EPISODES Echo Chambers of One: Companion AI and the Future of Human Connection What Can We Do About Abusive Chatbots? With Meetali Jain and Camille Carlton Esther Perel on Artificial Intimacy Jonathan Haidt On How to Solve the Teen Mental Health Crisis Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.