"AI Expert: We have 2 years before everything changes"
Saturday, December 27, 2025
This may be the most important interview I watched or listened to in 2025 and I encourage you to listen to it as well.
It’s not obvious how the next few years will play out when it comes to artificial intelligence. It is, however, clear that the touted goals of the major AI companies and the actual goals are not the same. and that they’re racing towards those goals as fast as possible. The actual goals – developing AI that can develop AI and ultimately developing super intelligence – don’t align with the interests of almost all of humanity.
My hope is that 2026 will be the year that we stop acting like whatever disasters AI will bring us are inevitable. There is a space between luddite and “let’s build AI gods” and we must aim to land in that space. It will take something on the scale of a new enlightenment, but it’s the only path forward. We can rest assured that we are hurdling towards disaster if AI companies are allowed to push as fast as possible with no oversight, transparency, or regulation.
Bringing about a new enlightenment may seem overwhelming, and that’s certainly a perspective I’ve held often. But that’s not the only perspective. We can instead view ourselves as the people who came to a civilizational fork in the road and refused to take the easy path. Who refused to throw their hands up and let history wash over them. Who will be looked upon by future generations with pride because they worked to build the narrow path towards more human flourishing.
I encourage you to take some time over the next week and listen to Tristan Harris explain what the AI companies really want, the dichotomy between that and what they say, realistic ideas for how to move forward, and overall a level-headed conversation about where AI is and where it’s headed.