Artificial Intelligence, Actual Idiots

Jon Favreau (0:20)

Welcome to Pod Save America, I'm Jon Favreau.

Jon Lovett (0:22)

I'm Jon Lovett.

Tommy Vietor (0:23)

I'm Tommy Vietor.

Jon Favreau (0:24)

On today's show, we're going to talk about the AI overlords who are begging for regulation that could stave off the apocalypse, and the president who's saying, no way, I love the apocalypse.

We'll talk about what Congress could do about our looming AI crisis, why it's bringing Bernie Sanders and Steve Bannon together, and how the issue will shape 2028 We've also got some pretty serious corrupt dates for you, including the Russia, Russia, Russian oligarch who bankrolled Don Jr's wedding. Russia is back.

Tommy Vietor (0:53)

It's so annoying that it had to be a Russian oligarch. I don't want to be back in P-tape land in 2017, but this story is insane. Covfefe. It's a covfefe time.

SPEAKER_4 (1:03)

It's a covfefe story.

Jon Favreau (1:05)

There are also some Republican candidates in Texas who are somehow even worse than Ken Paxton that we'll talk about.

Then I sat down with The Bulwark's Sarah Longwell to talk about what she's hearing in her focus groups about AI, Kamala Harris, and lots more. She's also got a great new book out. But first, Lovett, speaking of books, I think you had an event that you wanted to mention. At least that's what it says here.

Jon Lovett (1:25)

Yes. On Thursday, I am talking to our very own Alex Wagner about her book, The Steal, at the Writers Guild Theater here in LA. The Steal is about Ronald Reagan's efforts to pack the federal courts with conservative judges, and it worked. And it's a fascinating story and precursor to where we're at now. And also, we'll talk about everything, what's happening in politics. I'm excited to talk to Alex. It's going to be fun. So it's Thursday, 730 at the Writers Guild Theater. You go to Writers Block Presents if you want to come.

Jon Favreau (1:56)

All right. Let's get to the news. This was the weekend where the leaders of companies building what nearly everyone agrees is the most powerful technology in history, said that it's time to slow it down because humans could lose control of AI with catastrophic consequences. And the president, along with his rich tech buddies and the MAGA establishment, responded by saying, no thank you, full speed ahead. On Saturday, Anthropic CEO, Dario Amodei, published an essay calling for a global slowdown in AI development. Based on the argument that AI models are becoming so advanced, that AI itself is increasingly being used to build the next generation of AI, a process that could move faster than human's ability to understand or control, as evidenced by the recent incident involving OpenAI, where AI agents launched cyber attacks they hadn't been instructed to carry out, and then tried to cover up their tracks, so human observers wouldn't find out. Amodei goes on to say, we could be six to 12 months away from a swarm of AI agents capable of taking over the entire internet. And he proposes giving outside independent evaluators access inside AI companies, including his, common safety standards for big AI companies, and a political effort to reach some kind of an international agreement, especially with China.

OpenAI's Sam Altman and XAI's Elon Musk then expressed support for Amodei.

Sounds pretty good, right? Wrong. Monday morning, Trump described the push for AI guardrails as a, quote, sick conspiracy that would help China, and said that the only guardrail we need is a high IQ president. Which, if this clip of Trump on Air Force One Sunday night is any indication, we clearly have.

Donald Trump (3:51)

I just wanted to make sure everyone's okay with the music, right?

Tommy Vietor (3:54)

We loved it, Mr. President.

SPEAKER_6 (3:56)

You heard directly from any of these AI tech leaders, and you seem to downplay some of the concerns that we bring.

Donald Trump (4:03)

I said it's going to be more good than bad, but by a lot.

SPEAKER_6 (4:07)

And I've said it from the beginning.

Donald Trump (4:09)

Whoever wins AI, and we're leading by a lot, whoever wins AI wins.

SPEAKER_6 (4:14)

Have you ever used it yourself? How do you use AI?

Donald Trump (4:19)

I would say, for the most part, you can use AI for a lot of things.

SPEAKER_7 (4:23)

What do you use it for?

Jon Favreau (4:25)

Well, I use it to create images of me as Jesus, me in front of Mission Accomplished banners, all kinds of stuff. What do you guys make of the weekend's developments? How significant do you think it is that Amodei, Altman, Musk, who pretty much hate each other, seem to agree on the need for some kind of a slowdown? Tommy?