Robot Plumbers, Robot Armies, and Our Imminent A.I. Future | Interesting Times with Ross Douthat

Video Description

Is artificial intelligence about to take your job? According to Daniel Kokotajlo, the executive director of the A.I. Futures Project, that should be the least of your worries. Kokotajlo was once a researcher for OpenAI, but left after losing confidence in the company’s commitment to A.I. safety. This week, he joins Ross Douthat to talk about “AI 2027,” a series of predictions and warnings about the risks A.I. poses to humanity in the coming years, from radically transforming the economy to developing armies of robots. Read the full transcript at https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/15/opinion/artifical-intelligence-2027.html 03:20 What effect could AI have on jobs? 06:22 But wait, how does this make society richer? 10:13 Robot plumbers and electricians 15:26 The geopolitical stakes 20:02 AI’s honesty problem 24:01 The fork in the road 28:47 The best case scenario 30:36 The power structure in an AI-dominated world 33:34 What AI leaders think about this power structure 39:16 AI's hallucinations and limitations 44:47 Theories of AI consciousness 48:11 Is AI consciousness inevitable? 52:23 Humanity in an AI-dominated world This episode of “Interesting Times” was produced by Sophia Alvarez Boyd, Katherine Sullivan, Andrea Betanzos and Elisa Gutierrez. It was edited by Jordana Hochman. Mixing and engineering by Sonia Herrero, Isaac Jones and Efim Shapiro. Cinematography by Marina King, Nick Midwig and Derek Knowles. Video editing by Arpita Aneja and Steph Khoury. Original music by Isaac Jones, Sonia Herrero, Aman Sahota and Pat McCusker. Fact-checking by Kate Sinclair and Mary Marge Locker. Audience strategy by Shannon Busta. Video directed by Jonah M. Kessel. The director of Opinion Audio is Annie-Rose Strasser. Watch more on @InterestingTimesNYT