Endgame: Can we live with Artificial General Intelligence?
- Episodes
- 4
- Format
- Series – listen from the start
- Latest episode
- Jun 10, 2026
About the podcast
Imagine a machine that could do every mental task any human could do, except faster and better. That machine is Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), and a consensus is building in Silicon Valley that it is almost upon us. The Observer’s Jamie Bartlett investigates how worried we should really be, when AGI will arrive, and if there is anything we can do to stop this from being the "biggest coin toss in history".
Endgame is supported by the Future of Life Institute.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Episodes 4
The People vs AI
If the risks are so great, why are the AI firms continuing their race toward AGI? Geoffrey Hinton says the answer is simple: profit. The Observer’s Jamie Bartlett explores the dynamics of the race, and …
Show notes
If the risks are so great, why are the AI firms continuing their race toward AGI? Geoffrey Hinton says the answer is simple: profit. The Observer’s Jamie Bartlett explores the dynamics of the race, and solutions such as Max Tegmark’s call for independent safety testing of AI firms. Technical solutions are being developed by pioneers like Yoshua Bengio, but experts warn time is limited. Ultimately, some believe only a "Chernobyl scale disaster" will compel governments to regulate the race.
Endgame is supported by the Future of Life Institute.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The world’s biggest problem
The frontier labs are racing ahead to build super-intelligent systems, yet few are willing to explain how they plan to control them. Jamie speaks to safety expert Marius Hobbhahn, who reveals how AI models are …
Show notes
The frontier labs are racing ahead to build super-intelligent systems, yet few are willing to explain how they plan to control them. Jamie speaks to safety expert Marius Hobbhahn, who reveals how AI models are becoming deceptive, with one strategically lying to its human handler in testing. AI pioneer Stuart Russell explains why models exhibit "undesirable behaviours" like self-preservation and resource acquisition, while conversely, Rumman Chowdhury dismisses "AGI doom" as a distraction from immediate issues like bias.
Endgame is supported by the Future of Life Institute.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
A nation of geniuses
The world’s richest companies are racing to build Artificial General Intelligence, advanced AI capable of outperforming humans at nearly every cognitive task. Journalist Jamie Bartlett tries to work out how …
Show notes
The world’s richest companies are racing to build Artificial General Intelligence, advanced AI capable of outperforming humans at nearly every cognitive task. Journalist Jamie Bartlett tries to work out how worried he should be about reports that AGI’s arrival could prove immensely disruptive - even catastrophic. Why are even those building this technology predicting potential disaster, and when could this revolutionary technology arrive?
Endgame is supported by the Future of Life Institute.
Credits: Presented by Jamie Bartlett. Written by Jamie Bartlett and Steve O’Hagan
Series producer: Steve O’Hagan. Producer: Mike Paterson. Original music by Andrew Hale and Ian Penton-Voak.
Archive from: Moonshots with Peter Diamandis, Lex Fridman Podcast, Verdict With Ted Cruz, MDMEETS - Essential Talks with Mathias Döpfner, Axios AI + DC Summit.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Endgame: Can we live with Artificial General Intelligence?
Imagine a machine that could do every mental task any human could do, except faster and better. That machine is Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), and a consensus is building in Silicon Valley that it is …
Show notes
Imagine a machine that could do every mental task any human could do, except faster and better. That machine is Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), and a consensus is building in Silicon Valley that it is almost upon us. The Observer’s Jamie Bartlett investigates how worried we should really be, when AGI will arrive, and if there is anything we can do to stop this from being the "biggest coin toss in history".
Endgame is supported by the Future of Life Institute.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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