In this episode of the Existential Hope Podcast, Niklas Berild Lundblad, a philosopher, researcher, and former policy lead at Google DeepMind, Google, and Stripe, explores the interplay between progress, complexity, and the transformative potential of artificial intelligence.

Niklas discusses why asking the right questions is crucial for navigating our future, especially as AI challenges our self-perception and introduces new forms of complexity. He discusses the "soft narcissism" in AI development, the distinction between AI and AGI, and why we should view current AI not as a mirror, but as a strange, exotic artifact whose full capabilities we are still underestimating.

In this conversation, we explore:

• The critical relationship between progress and complexity, and why managing this dynamic is essential for societal growth (including the "Red Queen effect").
• Why current AI developments feel different from past tech hypes.
• The potential for AI to revolutionize scientific discovery.
• How AI could accelerate its own diffusion.
• The need for curious regulators, mechanisms for change, the challenges of agentic AI, and how cultural biases might affect our approaches to regulation.
• The Solow Paradox and the Gartner Hype Cycle as frameworks for understanding technology adoption.

On the Existential Hope Podcast hosts Allison Duettmann and Beatrice Erkers from the Foresight Institute invite scientists, founders, and philosophers for in-depth conversations on positive, high-tech futures.

Full transcript, listed resources, and more: https://www.existentialhope.com/podcasts

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