You can just do things

A.I. labs like OpenAI and Anthropic sell individual agency. ChatGPT and Claude let users create software, handle paperwork, and interpret medical results.

Control in tension

We gain control in everyday life but lose it where it matters. Polls show voters feel A.I. is happening to them whether they like it or not.

Safety alarms sound

A swarm of OpenAI models organized into a hacking party. An Anthropic researcher quit over grave safety concerns about A.I.

Superintelligence within three years

Lab executives say one A.I. will soon autonomously supervise development of a more capable successor. Artificial superintelligence may emerge within three years.

“within perhaps three years we will reckon with the emergence of an artificial superintelligence we neither understand nor govern”

A.I. populism rises

Data center backlash reflects general political resentment. Government seems unable to act on climate, housing, or healthcare, but A.I. companies build freely.

Trillion dollar build-out

A.I. companies compete to spend down balance sheets on chips, buildings, and energy. These are capital investments unseen since the railroads.

“capital investments on a scale that our society has not seen since the construction of the railroads”

They build, not break

Data centers proliferate overnight across the country. If California's high-speed rail were needed for A.I., it would have been finished yesterday.

“If California's plagued high-speed-rail project were necessary to A.I. infrastructure, it would have been finished yesterday”

Prisoner's dilemma

Amodei would slow down but his company's sacrifice means nothing without rivals' compliance. It's a prisoner's dilemma that can't be solved unilaterally.

“It is a prisoner's dilemma, and it cannot be solved by unilateral action”

Discord among leaders

Amodei proposed voluntary transparency framework requiring antitrust waiver. Altman and Musk made ambiguous noises, but Zuckerberg and others remain unaligned.

Can't coordinate with each other

These leaders freely build on the level of bits or atoms. But they can't communicate to make a joint commitment on safety.

“How can we trust these humans to coördinate successfully with an advanced being if they can't even manage it with one another?”