All Summaries for Your Undivided Attention

Where do the top Silicon Valley AI researchers really think  AI is headed? Do they have a plan if things go wrong?  In this episode, Tristan Harris and Aza Raskin reflect on the last several months of highlighting AI risk, and share their insider takes on a high-level workshop run by CHT in Silicon Valley. NOTE: Tristan refers to journalist Maria Ressa and mentions that she received 80 hate messages per hour at one point. She actually received more than 90 messages an hour.RECOMMENDED MEDIA Musk, Zuckerberg, Gates: The titans of tech will talk AI at private Capitol summitThis week will feature a series of public hearings on artificial intelligence. But all eyes will be on the closed-door gathering convened by Senate Majority Leader Chuck SchumerTakeaways from the roundtable with President Biden on artificial intelligenceTristan Harris talks about his recent meeting with President Biden to discuss regulating artificial intelligenceBiden, Harris meet with CEOs about AI risksVice President Kamala Harris met with the heads of Google, Microsoft, Anthropic, and OpenAI as the Biden administration rolled out initiatives meant to ensure that AI improves lives without putting people’s rights and safety at riskRECOMMENDED YUA EPISODES The AI DilemmaThe AI ‘Race’: China vs the US with Jeffrey Ding and Karen HaoThe Dictator’s Playbook with Maria RessaYour Undivided Attention is produced by the Center for Humane Technology. Follow us on Twitter: @HumaneTech_

In the debate over slowing down AI, we often hear the same argument against regulation.   “What about China? We can’t let China get ahead.” To dig into the nuances of this argument, Tristan and Aza speak with academic researcher Jeffrey Ding and journalist Karen Hao, who take us through what’s really happening in Chinese AI development. They address China’s advantages and limitations, what risks are overblown, and what, in this multi-national competition, is at stake as we imagine the best possible future for everyone.CORRECTION: Jeffrey Ding says the export controls on advanced chips that were established in October 2022 only apply to military end-users. The controls also impose a license requirement on the export of those advanced chips to any China-based end-user.RECOMMENDED MEDIA Recent Trends in China’s Large Language Model Landscape by Jeffrey Ding and Jenny W. XiaoThis study covers a sample of 26 large-scale pre-trained AI models developed in ChinaThe diffusion deficit in scientific and technological power: re-assessing China’s rise by Jeffrey DingThis paper argues for placing a greater weight on a state’s capacity to diffuse, or widely adopt, innovationsThe U.S. Is Turning Away From Its Biggest Scientific Partner at a Precarious Time by Karen Hao and Sha HuaU.S. moves to cut research ties with China over security concerns threaten American progress in critical areasWhy China Has Not Caught Up Yet: Military-Technological Superiority and the Limits of Imitation, Reverse Engineering, and Cyber Espionage by Andrea Gilli and Mauro GilliMilitary technology has grown so complex that it’s hard to imitateRECOMMENDED YUA EPISODES The Three Rules of Humane TechA Fresh Take on Tech in China with Rui Ma and Duncan ClarkDigital Democracy is Within Reach with Audrey TangYour Undivided Attention is produced by the Center for Humane Technology. Follow us on Twitter: @HumaneTech_

For all the talk about AI, we rarely hear about how it will change our relationships. As we swipe to find love and consult chatbot therapists, acclaimed psychotherapist and relationship expert Esther Perel warns that there’s another harmful “AI” on the rise — Artificial Intimacy — and how it is depriving us of real connection. Tristan and Esther discuss how depending on algorithms can fuel alienation, and then imagine how we might design technology to strengthen our social bonds.RECOMMENDED MEDIA Mating in Captivity by Esther PerelEsther's debut work on the intricacies behind modern relationships, and the dichotomy of domesticity and sexual desireThe State of Affairs by Esther PerelEsther takes a look at modern relationships through the lens of infidelityWhere Should We Begin? with Esther PerelListen in as real couples in search of help bare the raw and profound details of their storiesHow’s Work? with Esther PerelEsther’s podcast that focuses on the hard conversations we're afraid to have at work Lars and the Real Girl (2007)A young man strikes up an unconventional relationship with a doll he finds on the internetHer (2013)In a near future, a lonely writer develops an unlikely relationship with an operating system designed to meet his every needRECOMMENDED YUA EPISODES Big Food, Big Tech and Big AI with Michael MossThe AI DilemmaThe Three Rules of Humane TechDigital Democracy is Within Reach with Audrey Tang Your Undivided Attention is produced by the Center for Humane Technology. Follow us on Twitter: @HumaneTech_ 

We are on the cusp of an explosion of cheap,  consumer-ready neurotechnology - from earbuds that gather our behavioral data,  to sensors that can read our dreams. And it’s all going to be supercharged by AI. This technology is moving from niche to mainstream - and it has the same potential to become exponential. Legal scholar Nita Farahany talks us through the current state of neurotechnology and its deep links to AI. She says that we urgently need to protect the last frontier of privacy: our internal thoughts. And she argues that without a new legal framework around “cognitive liberty,” we won’t be able to insulate our brains from corporate and government intrusion.RECOMMENDED MEDIA The Battle for Your Brain: Defending the Right to Think Freely in the Age of Neurotechnology by Nita FarahanyThe Battle for Your Brain offers a path forward to navigate the complex dilemmas that will fundamentally impact our freedom to understand, shape, and define ourselvesComputer Program Reveals What Neurons in the Visual Cortex Prefer to Look AtA study of macaque monkeys at Harvard generated valuable clues based on an artificial intelligence system that can reliably determine what neurons in the brain’s visual cortex prefer to seeUnderstanding Media: The Extensions of Man by Marshall McLuhanAn influential work by a fixture in media discourseRECOMMENDED YUA EPISODES The Three Rules of Humane TechTalking With Animals… Using AIHow to Free Our Minds with Cult Deprogramming Expert Dr. Steven HassanYour Undivided Attention is produced by the Center for Humane Technology. Follow us on Twitter: @HumaneTech_

What happens when creators consider what lifelong human development looks like in terms of the tools we make? And what philosophies from Sesame Street can inform how to steward the power of AI and social media to influence minds in thoughtful, humane directions?When the first episode of Sesame Street aired on PBS in 1969, it was unlike anything that had been on television before - a collaboration between educators, child psychologists, comedy writers and puppeteers - all working together to do something that had never been done before: create educational content for children on television. Fast-forward to the present: could we switch gears to reprogram today’s digital tools to   humanely educate the next generation? That’s the question Tristan Harris and Aza Raskin explore with Dr. Rosemarie Truglio, the Senior Vice President of Curriculum and Content for the Sesame Workshop, the non-profit behind Sesame Street. RECOMMENDED MEDIA Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame StreetThis documentary offers a rare window into the early days of Sesame Street, revealing the creators, artists, writers and educators who together established one of the most influential and enduring children’s programs in television historySesame Street: Ready for School!: A Parent's Guide to Playful Learning for Children Ages 2 to 5 by Dr. Rosemarie TruglioRosemarie shares all the research-based, curriculum-directed school readiness skills that have made Sesame Street the preeminent children's TV programG Is for Growing: Thirty Years of Research on Children and Sesame Street co-edited by Shalom Fisch and Rosemarie TruglioThis volume serves as a marker of the significant role that Sesame Street plays in the education and socialization of young childrenThe Democratic Surround by Fred TurnerIn this prequel to his celebrated book From Counterculture to Cyberculture, Turner rewrites the history of postwar America, showing how in the 1940s and 1950s American liberalism offered a far more radical social vision than we now rememberAmusing Ourselves to Death by Neil PostmanNeil Postman’s groundbreaking book about the damaging effects of television on our politics and public discourse has been hailed as a twenty-first-century book published in the twentieth centurySesame Workshop Identity Matters StudyExplore parents’ and educators’ perceptions of children’s social identity developmentEffects of Sesame Street: A meta-analysis of children's learning in 15 countriesCommissioned by Sesame Workshop, the study was led by University of Wisconsin researchers Marie-Louise Mares and Zhongdang PanU.S. Parents & Teachers See an Unkind World for Their Children, New Sesame Survey ShowsAccording to the survey titled, “K is for Kind: A National Survey On Kindness and Kids,” parents and teachers in the United States worry that their children are living in an unkind worldRECOMMENDED YUA EPISODESAre the Kids Alright? With Jonathan HaidtThe Three Rules of Humane TechWhen Media Was for You and Me with Fred Turner Your Undivided Attention is produced by the Center for Humane Technology. Follow us on Twitter: @HumaneTech_

You’re likely familiar with the modern zombie trope: a zombie bites someone you care about and they’re transformed into a creature who wants your brain. Zombies are the perfect metaphor to explain something Tristan and Aza have been thinking about lately that they call zombie values.In this Spotlight episode of Your Undivided Attention, we talk through some examples of how zombie values limit our thinking around tech harms. Our hope is that by the end of this episode, you'll be able to recognize the zombie values that walk amongst us, and think through how to upgrade these values to meet the realities of our modern world. RECOMMENDED MEDIA Is the First Amendment Obsolete?This essay explores free expression challengesThe Wisdom GapThis blog post from the Center for Humane Technology describes the gap between the rising interconnected complexity of our problems and our ability to make sense of themRECOMMENDED YUA EPISODES A Problem Well-Stated is Half Solved with Daniel SchmachtenbergerHow To Free Our Minds with Cult Deprogramming Expert Steve HassanYour Undivided Attention is produced by the Center for Humane Technology. Follow us on Twitter: @HumaneTech_

There’s really no one better than veteran tech journalist Kara Swisher at challenging people to articulate their thinking. Tristan Harrris recently sat down with her for a wide ranging interview on AI risk. She even pressed Tristan on whether he is a doomsday prepper. It was so great, we wanted to share it with you here. The interview was originally on Kara’s podcast ON with Kara Swisher. If you like it and want to hear more of Kara’s interviews with folks like Sam Altman, Reid Hoffman and others, you can find more episodes of ON with Kara Swisher here: https://link.chtbl.com/_XTWwg3kRECOMMENDED YUA EPISODES AI Myths and MisconceptionsThe AI DilemmaThe Three Rules of Humane TechYour Undivided Attention is produced by the Center for Humane Technology. Follow us on Twitter: @HumaneTech_

Democracy in action has looked the same for generations. Constituents might go to a library or school every one or two years and cast their vote for people who don't actually represent everything that they care about. Our technology is rapidly increasing in sophistication, yet our forms of democracy have largely remained unchanged. What would an upgrade look like - not just for democracy, but for all the different places that democratic decision-making happens?On this episode of Your Undivided Attention, we’re joined by political economist and social technologist Divya Siddarth, one of the world's leading experts in collective intelligence. Together we explore how new kinds of governance can be supported through better technology, and how collective decision-making is key to unlocking everything from more effective elections to better ways of responding to global problems like climate change.Correction:Tristan mentions Elon Musk’s attempt to manufacture ventilators early on in the COVID-19 pandemic. Musk ended up buying over 1,200 ventilators that were delivered to California.RECOMMENDED MEDIAAgainst Democracy by Jason BrennanA provocative challenge to one of our most cherished institutionsLedger of HarmsTechnology platforms have created a race for human attention that’s unleashed invisible harms to society. Here are some of the costs that aren't showing up on their balance sheetsThe Wisdom GapThis blog post from the Center for Humane Technology describes the gap between the rising interconnected complexity of our problems and our ability to make sense of themDemocracyNextDemocracyNext is working to design and establish new institutions for government and transform the governance of organizations that influence public lifeCIP.orgAn incubator for new governance models for transformative technologyEtheloTransform community engagement through consensusKazm’s Living Room ConversationsLiving Room Conversations works to heal society by connecting people across divides through guided conversations proven to build understanding and transform communitiesThe Citizens DialogueA model for citizen participation in Ostbelgien, which was brought to life by the parliament of the German-speaking communityAsamblea Ciudadana Para El ClimaSpain’s national citizens’ assembly on climate changeClimate Assembly UKThe UK’s national citizens’ assembly on climate changeCitizens’ Convention for the ClimateFrance’s national citizens’ assembly on climate changePolisPolis is a real-time system for gathering, analyzing and understanding what large groups of people think in their own words, enabled by advanced statistics and machine learningRECOMMENDED YUA EPISODESDigital Democracy is Within Reach with Audrey Tang They Don’t Represent Us with Larry LessigA Renegade Solution to Extractive Economics with Kate RaworthYour Undivided Attention is produced by the Center for Humane Technology. Follow us on Twitter: @HumaneTech_

A few episodes back, we presented Tristan Harris and Aza Raskin’s talk The AI Dilemma. People inside the companies that are building generative artificial intelligence came to us with their concerns about the rapid pace of deployment and the problems that are emerging as a result. We felt called to lay out the catastrophic risks that AI poses to society and sound the alarm on the need to upgrade our institutions for a post-AI world.The talk resonated - over 1.6 million people have viewed it on YouTube as of this episode’s release date. The positive reception gives us hope that leaders will be willing to come to the table for a difficult but necessary conversation about AI.However, now that so many people have watched or listened to the talk, we’ve found that there are some AI myths getting in the way of making progress. On this episode of Your Undivided Attention, we debunk five of those misconceptions. RECOMMENDED MEDIA Opinion | Yuval Harari, Tristan Harris, and Aza Raskin on Threats to Humanity Posed by AI - The New York TimesIn this New York Times piece, Yuval Harari, Tristan Harris, and Aza Raskin call upon world leaders to respond to this moment at the level of challenge it presents.Misalignment, AI & MolochA deep dive into the game theory and exponential growth underlying our modern economic system, and how recent advancements in AI are poised to turn up the pressure on that system, and its wider environment, in ways we have never seen beforeRECOMMENDED YUA EPISODESThe AI DilemmaThe Three Rules of Humane TechCan We Govern AI? with Marietje SchaakeYour Undivided Attention is produced by the Center for Humane Technology. Follow us on Twitter: @HumaneTech_