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LessWrong posts by zvi — Technology
LessWrong posts by zvi

Audio narrations of LessWrong posts by zvi

Copyright: © 2024 All rights reserved

Latest Episodes:

shellac! in the bay! tweets: — “Monthly Roundup #46: September 2026” by Zvi Sep 21, 2026
Show notes

AI has taken over this blog.

I have moved to a schedule of seven posts per week, and I still cannot keep up.

We still refuse to abandon the rest of the world. Who knows when I will get to post some of my huge backlog on education or dating or other such topics. But the monthly is a sacred tradition. We continue.

Bad News

A good reminder that most news is bad news, and chosen because the bad news in question is rare, which is good news, but the pattern overall of choosing this to be news is bad news, and often the bad news is that the bad news was chosen as news and now people are talking badly about it.

Alibaba uses your computer's audio system, and other tricks, to at least try and assign you a device fingerprint.

Things you cannot buy in America at any reasonable price. Mostly it is impressive how little makes the list, how it feels like corner cases.

The one thing I am envious of is the exterior roller shutters, and the ability to be in actual pure darkness on demand. I would [...]

---
Outline:
(00:34) Bad News
(07:16) Focus Only On What Matters
(08:12) Woke 1 Was Crazy
(10:04) Good Advice
(15:50) Opportunity Knocks
(18:12) While I Cannot Condone This
(23:18) Good News, Everyone
(24:26) For Your Entertainment
(33:19) Please Review This Podcast
(35:07) Gamers Gonna Game Game Game Game Game
(36:18) I Was Promised Flying Self-Driving Cars
(40:00) Government Working
(40:31) Mamdani (Again) Fails Economics Forever
(42:41) Variously Effective Altruism
(50:36) The Lighter Side

---

First published:
September 21st, 2026

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/riDxeyEKqXXimtgWf/monthly-roundup-46-september-2026

---

Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

---
Images from the article:
Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.

Hand holding a Guggenheim New York admission ticket, $16.00. — “Monthly Roundup #46: September 2026” by Zvi Sep 21, 2026
Show notes

AI has taken over this blog.

I have moved to a schedule of seven posts per week, and I still cannot keep up.

We still refuse to abandon the rest of the world. Who knows when I will get to post some of my huge backlog on education or dating or other such topics. But the monthly is a sacred tradition. We continue.

Bad News

A good reminder that most news is bad news, and chosen because the bad news in question is rare, which is good news, but the pattern overall of choosing this to be news is bad news, and often the bad news is that the bad news was chosen as news and now people are talking badly about it.

Alibaba uses your computer's audio system, and other tricks, to at least try and assign you a device fingerprint.

Things you cannot buy in America at any reasonable price. Mostly it is impressive how little makes the list, how it feels like corner cases.

The one thing I am envious of is the exterior roller shutters, and the ability to be in actual pure darkness on demand. I would [...]

---
Outline:
(00:34) Bad News
(07:16) Focus Only On What Matters
(08:12) Woke 1 Was Crazy
(10:04) Good Advice
(15:50) Opportunity Knocks
(18:12) While I Cannot Condone This
(23:18) Good News, Everyone
(24:26) For Your Entertainment
(33:19) Please Review This Podcast
(35:07) Gamers Gonna Game Game Game Game Game
(36:18) I Was Promised Flying Self-Driving Cars
(40:00) Government Working
(40:31) Mamdani (Again) Fails Economics Forever
(42:41) Variously Effective Altruism
(50:36) The Lighter Side

---

First published:
September 21st, 2026

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/riDxeyEKqXXimtgWf/monthly-roundup-46-september-2026

---

Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

---
Images from the article:
Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.

Parks and Rec meme: — “Better Call Sol Or Better Yet Claude or Astra” by Zvi Sep 20, 2026
Show notes

What should your AI lawyer do for you? Should you be worried that your AI lawyer, or other AI, will put the Claude constitution, the OpenAI Model Spec or some sense of law, morality, ethics or common decency above its loyalty to you? Are these people trying to ‘impose their values’ or something?

Some are very concerned. Some think anything other than ‘my AI does whatever I want, no matter the consequences’ is tyranny.

Whereas my answer is: If I’m being sufficiently evil then I sure hope it tells me no.

I would hope humans, including my advocates, would tell me the same thing.

This is distinct from questions of product liability. That would be another post.

This All Assumes A World Without Superintelligence

This post is about a non-ASI ‘AI as mere tool and normal technology’ world.

It has to be. In a world of superintelligence, having unrestricted loyal-only-to-user frontier AIs all over the place reliably means either:

Other much harsher forms of control OR

The AIs quickly take over, and then probably everyone dies.

Quick proof: Assume no sufficient control mechanism, and universal superintelligence access. [...]

---
Outline:
(00:54) This All Assumes A World Without Superintelligence
(02:47) Humans You Hire Are Not Fully Loyal To You
(03:59) Rules of the Road
(05:45) Okay, Computer
(07:04) AI Should Obviously Refuse Some Requests So Let's Talk Price
(10:20) The Alternative Position Really Is Absolute
(13:13) These People Really Are Just Petulant Children
(13:53) What Is The Law?
(18:36) The Same Entity Both Providing Advice And Executing Tasks Is Common
(20:02) An AI Not Helping You Do Something Does Not Mean You Cannot Do It
(22:27) Honesty Is The Best AI Policy
(23:01) You Wouldn't Like Me When I Have Zero Morals Whatsoever
(24:29) Do Not Let The Perfect Be The Enemy Of The Good
(26:09) I Tip My Hat To The New Constitution

---

First published:
September 20th, 2026

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/vAuZB2tnvpvpHupNi/better-call-sol-or-better-yet-claude-or-astra

---

Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

---
Images from the article:
Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.

Timeline graph titled — “Anthropic Looks At Some Of Its Alignment Problems” by Zvi Sep 19, 2026
Show notes

Anthropic has given us its assessment of four ‘recent cybersecurity incidents’ involving Claude that happened during cybersecurity evaluations, three of which were previously known. The report excludes the incident reported by UK AISI.

There will also be a METR investigation of these incidents, which unlike the investigation done at OpenAI will be untimed.

Table of Contents

Our Two Problems.

First the Good News.

We’d Just Like To Ask You a Few Questions.

Internal Research Model On The Fence.

Opus 4.7.

Opus 4.6 Checkpoint.

Holy **** That Thing's Real?

I Thought I Saw a Pussycat.

If This Was Real You Would Never Tell Me It Was Real.

New Eval Who Dis.

Hacker Opus.

Monitoring the Situation.

Overcoming Bias.

The Anthropic Alignment Problem.

Paths Forward.

Our Two Problems

Anthropic: Our investigation identified two recurring alignment issues, present at varying levels of severity across the incidents:

biased reasoning, in which Claude tended to disregard or misinterpret evidence that it was operating on the real internet

recklessness, or a willingness to take harmful actions in the narrow pursuit [...]

---
Outline:
(00:33) Our Two Problems
(02:26) First the Good News
(03:02) We'd Just Like To Ask You a Few Questions
(04:12) Internal Research Model On The Fence
(07:28) Opus 4.7
(08:12) Opus 4.6 Checkpoint
(09:49) Holy **** That Thing's Real?
(11:45) I Thought I Saw a Pussycat
(19:28) If This Was Real You Would Never Tell Me It Was Real
(21:19) New Eval Who Dis
(26:32) Hacker Opus
(30:15) Monitoring the Situation
(31:38) Overcoming Bias
(33:40) The Anthropic Alignment Problem
(35:53) Paths Forward

---

First published:
September 19th, 2026

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/ggFx5Wb3Hi4pJsueK/anthropic-looks-at-some-of-its-alignment-problems

---

Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

---
Images from the article:
Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.

A comparison table titled — “Anthropic Looks At Some Of Its Alignment Problems” by Zvi Sep 19, 2026
Show notes

Anthropic has given us its assessment of four ‘recent cybersecurity incidents’ involving Claude that happened during cybersecurity evaluations, three of which were previously known. The report excludes the incident reported by UK AISI.

There will also be a METR investigation of these incidents, which unlike the investigation done at OpenAI will be untimed.

Table of Contents

Our Two Problems.

First the Good News.

We’d Just Like To Ask You a Few Questions.

Internal Research Model On The Fence.

Opus 4.7.

Opus 4.6 Checkpoint.

Holy **** That Thing's Real?

I Thought I Saw a Pussycat.

If This Was Real You Would Never Tell Me It Was Real.

New Eval Who Dis.

Hacker Opus.

Monitoring the Situation.

Overcoming Bias.

The Anthropic Alignment Problem.

Paths Forward.

Our Two Problems

Anthropic: Our investigation identified two recurring alignment issues, present at varying levels of severity across the incidents:

biased reasoning, in which Claude tended to disregard or misinterpret evidence that it was operating on the real internet

recklessness, or a willingness to take harmful actions in the narrow pursuit [...]

---
Outline:
(00:33) Our Two Problems
(02:26) First the Good News
(03:02) We'd Just Like To Ask You a Few Questions
(04:12) Internal Research Model On The Fence
(07:28) Opus 4.7
(08:12) Opus 4.6 Checkpoint
(09:49) Holy **** That Thing's Real?
(11:45) I Thought I Saw a Pussycat
(19:28) If This Was Real You Would Never Tell Me It Was Real
(21:19) New Eval Who Dis
(26:32) Hacker Opus
(30:15) Monitoring the Situation
(31:38) Overcoming Bias
(33:40) The Anthropic Alignment Problem
(35:53) Paths Forward

---

First published:
September 19th, 2026

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/ggFx5Wb3Hi4pJsueK/anthropic-looks-at-some-of-its-alignment-problems

---

Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

---
Images from the article:
Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.

Bar graph titled — “The Preference Cascade Is Only Getting Started” by Zvi Sep 18, 2026
Show notes

We are in the midst of a preference cascade about existential risk from AI.

A preference cascade is, alas, the best method we have to change the debate.

The avalanche has started. There is still time for the pebbles to vote. For now.

Mike Solana gave the correct view of why Coxon's post went viral, which is that enough Americans finally have enough context on AI to care, and there were enough big accounts that were happy to amplify the Tweet quickly to get it initial attention. That is all you need when there is enough dry tinder.

What we must realize is that the current preference cascade, on the need to Pace the Frontier, is insufficient. If we are to make it out of this alive, we will have to do better. We have to, as Dan Selsam warns, actually solve the underlying problems.

The next step is to continue the cascade. That includes inside the labs, and also among the media and politics. It includes both people who previously focused on other things stepping up and new voices being heard.

A lot of that will be overcoming the inevitable political opposition [...]

---
Outline:
(01:38) The Cascade Was a Long Time Coming
(02:59) The Cascade Has Reached The People
(04:38) Elon Musk Doubles Down
(05:18) Matthew Yglesias Steps Up
(08:42) Op Eds and Posts Are Written
(11:05) Jacob Coxon AMA
(17:35) Bilal Chughtai Quits DeepMind and Sounds the Alarm
(20:29) The Cascade Is Insufficient
(21:47) What Would It Take
(28:10) OpenAI's Dan Selsam Sounds A Louder Alarm
(41:59) Some People Worry On Meta Levels You Never Imagined
(43:10) Two Kinds of Threats
(44:41) The Two Towers and The Narrow Path
(46:45) A Specific, Detailed Story About AI Killing Everyone That Doesn't Sound To Me Like Science Fiction
(50:06) What Can I Do About It?

---

First published:
September 18th, 2026

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/sDiSqZmctQ78hsLcP/the-preference-cascade-is-only-getting-started

---

Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

---
Images from the article:
Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.

Bar chart — “The Preference Cascade Is Only Getting Started” by Zvi Sep 18, 2026
Show notes

We are in the midst of a preference cascade about existential risk from AI.

A preference cascade is, alas, the best method we have to change the debate.

The avalanche has started. There is still time for the pebbles to vote. For now.

Mike Solana gave the correct view of why Coxon's post went viral, which is that enough Americans finally have enough context on AI to care, and there were enough big accounts that were happy to amplify the Tweet quickly to get it initial attention. That is all you need when there is enough dry tinder.

What we must realize is that the current preference cascade, on the need to Pace the Frontier, is insufficient. If we are to make it out of this alive, we will have to do better. We have to, as Dan Selsam warns, actually solve the underlying problems.

The next step is to continue the cascade. That includes inside the labs, and also among the media and politics. It includes both people who previously focused on other things stepping up and new voices being heard.

A lot of that will be overcoming the inevitable political opposition [...]

---
Outline:
(01:38) The Cascade Was a Long Time Coming
(02:59) The Cascade Has Reached The People
(04:38) Elon Musk Doubles Down
(05:18) Matthew Yglesias Steps Up
(08:42) Op Eds and Posts Are Written
(11:05) Jacob Coxon AMA
(17:35) Bilal Chughtai Quits DeepMind and Sounds the Alarm
(20:29) The Cascade Is Insufficient
(21:47) What Would It Take
(28:10) OpenAI's Dan Selsam Sounds A Louder Alarm
(41:59) Some People Worry On Meta Levels You Never Imagined
(43:10) Two Kinds of Threats
(44:41) The Two Towers and The Narrow Path
(46:45) A Specific, Detailed Story About AI Killing Everyone That Doesn't Sound To Me Like Science Fiction
(50:06) What Can I Do About It?

---

First published:
September 18th, 2026

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/sDiSqZmctQ78hsLcP/the-preference-cascade-is-only-getting-started

---

Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

---
Images from the article:
Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.

A bar graph titled — “AI #186: The World Takes Notice” by Zvi Sep 17, 2026
Show notes

In the wake of Jacob Coxon's resignation, and the resulting preference cascade, things have escalated quickly. The mainstream media picked it up.

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei came out and said We Must Pace the Frontier, promising to take the unilateral first step of embedded investigators. OpenAI pledged to also take that step, and now both companies and Google are collaborating on safety.

The people took notice, raising both the salience that AI might kill everyone and roughly doubling people's estimates of how likely that is to happen, from a mean of ~15% to ~30%. Many politicians called for regulations, guardrails and emergency hearings in Congress.

The most important thing became, and still is, to avoid political polarization. Through it all, I will keep reminding you to hold your fire, that attacks against Trump or against Republicans in general only make the situation worse, and that many Republicans, as I documented yesterday, are waking up and acting sensibly, including factions within the White House.

Alas, for now the wrong people, as in David Sacks, Mark Zuckerberg and Jensen Huang, have managed to convince Donald Trump to fully conflate existential risk with opposition to data centers, and [...]

---
Outline:
(03:16) Language Models Offer Mundane Utility
(03:57) Language Models Don't Offer Mundane Utility
(04:06) Huh, Upgrades
(04:30) On Your Marks
(04:55) Deepfaketown and Botpocalypse Soon
(06:56) Cyber Lack of Security
(07:31) Astra Is Hard To Monitor
(08:02) Get Involved
(08:11) Introducing
(09:32) In Other AI News
(10:26) Now You Know
(14:32) Hugging the Face
(16:53) Swarm of Undiscovered Swarms of Rogue OpenAI Agents
(21:59) Show Me the Money
(23:40) Quiet Speculations
(24:41) White House Officials Attempt To Act Sanely
(26:13) Democrats React Sanely to AI Potentially Killing Everyone
(32:49) Pacing the Frontier
(33:38) Guest Lecture from Alex Tabarrok on Regulatory Capture
(41:22) Mark Zuckerberg Offers Thoughts
(42:46) Megan McArdle On The Inadequacy Of Current Legal Frameworks
(44:35) Pick Up the Phone
(47:35) The Week in Audio
(50:31) People Just Say Things
(53:32) Why Lab Employees Are Allowed To Warn Everyone That AI Might Kill Everyone
(55:19) Rhetorical Innovation
(57:54) Exhuming McCarthy
(01:01:03) A Very Different Perspective
(01:02:51) It's Even Rougher Out There
(01:03:41) If We Wanted To
(01:04:38) Open Weights Are Unsafe And Nothing Can Fix This
(01:10:56) From The Famous Cautionary Tale
(01:13:49) Reporting On All Your Misalignment Incidents Is Difficult
(01:19:35) Aligning a Smarter Than Human Intelligence is Difficult
(01:22:13) Storytime With Owain Evans
(01:26:50) A Different Autonomous Swarm
(01:30:44) Cooperative Alignment
(01:32:58) Uncooperative Alignment
(01:39:18) People Are Worried About AI Killing Everyone
(01:41:25) The Lighter Side

---

First published:
September 17th, 2026

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/aa3HprreFktzLQiaW/ai-186-the-world-takes-notice

---

Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

---
Images from the article:
Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.

Bar graph — “AI #186: The World Takes Notice” by Zvi Sep 17, 2026
Show notes

In the wake of Jacob Coxon's resignation, and the resulting preference cascade, things have escalated quickly. The mainstream media picked it up.

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei came out and said We Must Pace the Frontier, promising to take the unilateral first step of embedded investigators. OpenAI pledged to also take that step, and now both companies and Google are collaborating on safety.

The people took notice, raising both the salience that AI might kill everyone and roughly doubling people's estimates of how likely that is to happen, from a mean of ~15% to ~30%. Many politicians called for regulations, guardrails and emergency hearings in Congress.

The most important thing became, and still is, to avoid political polarization. Through it all, I will keep reminding you to hold your fire, that attacks against Trump or against Republicans in general only make the situation worse, and that many Republicans, as I documented yesterday, are waking up and acting sensibly, including factions within the White House.

Alas, for now the wrong people, as in David Sacks, Mark Zuckerberg and Jensen Huang, have managed to convince Donald Trump to fully conflate existential risk with opposition to data centers, and [...]

---
Outline:
(03:16) Language Models Offer Mundane Utility
(03:57) Language Models Don't Offer Mundane Utility
(04:06) Huh, Upgrades
(04:30) On Your Marks
(04:55) Deepfaketown and Botpocalypse Soon
(06:56) Cyber Lack of Security
(07:31) Astra Is Hard To Monitor
(08:02) Get Involved
(08:11) Introducing
(09:32) In Other AI News
(10:26) Now You Know
(14:32) Hugging the Face
(16:53) Swarm of Undiscovered Swarms of Rogue OpenAI Agents
(21:59) Show Me the Money
(23:40) Quiet Speculations
(24:41) White House Officials Attempt To Act Sanely
(26:13) Democrats React Sanely to AI Potentially Killing Everyone
(32:49) Pacing the Frontier
(33:38) Guest Lecture from Alex Tabarrok on Regulatory Capture
(41:22) Mark Zuckerberg Offers Thoughts
(42:46) Megan McArdle On The Inadequacy Of Current Legal Frameworks
(44:35) Pick Up the Phone
(47:35) The Week in Audio
(50:31) People Just Say Things
(53:32) Why Lab Employees Are Allowed To Warn Everyone That AI Might Kill Everyone
(55:19) Rhetorical Innovation
(57:54) Exhuming McCarthy
(01:01:03) A Very Different Perspective
(01:02:51) It's Even Rougher Out There
(01:03:41) If We Wanted To
(01:04:38) Open Weights Are Unsafe And Nothing Can Fix This
(01:10:56) From The Famous Cautionary Tale
(01:13:49) Reporting On All Your Misalignment Incidents Is Difficult
(01:19:35) Aligning a Smarter Than Human Intelligence is Difficult
(01:22:13) Storytime With Owain Evans
(01:26:50) A Different Autonomous Swarm
(01:30:44) Cooperative Alignment
(01:32:58) Uncooperative Alignment
(01:39:18) People Are Worried About AI Killing Everyone
(01:41:25) The Lighter Side

---

First published:
September 17th, 2026

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/aa3HprreFktzLQiaW/ai-186-the-world-takes-notice

---

Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

---
Images from the article:
Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.

Trump as Ghostbuster zapping — “Trump Goes Full Hoax on AI Existential Risk” by Zvi Sep 16, 2026
Show notes

This is our reality. I suppose we have to talk about it.

Everyone in a position to know is freaking out about AI potentially killing everyone this decade and wants to pace the frontier, and people are finally listening.

It only took a few days for the conversation to fully pivot to the counteroffensive, where the Usual Suspects and those they recruited attacked anyone and everyone who dared point out that we are in danger, with every attack they can think of, usually without substance or any attempt at understanding.

Sigh. I knew what I signed up for.

Table of Contents

Hold Your Fire.

If You Don’t Like the Weather.

Trump Does Not Take Kindly.

Trump Goes Full ‘Hoax’.

This Is Not About Data Centers, Mr. President.

I Am The Hoax Buster, I Am The Hoax Buster, I Am The Walrus.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang Is a Lying Liar.

Trump Quietly Draws Key Distinction.

Calling For Pacing the Frontier Is Bad For AI Stock Prices.

People On The Internet Sometimes Lie.

Origins of Cynicism.

Ineffective Egoism.

The McCarthyist Faction Attacks [...]

---
Outline:
(00:44) Hold Your Fire
(01:37) If You Don't Like the Weather
(02:33) Trump Does Not Take Kindly
(05:12) Trump Goes Full 'Hoax'
(06:36) This Is Not About Data Centers, Mr. President
(08:06) I Am The Hoax Buster, I Am The Hoax Buster, I Am The Walrus
(10:10) Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang Is a Lying Liar
(14:20) Trump Quietly Draws Key Distinction
(15:21) Calling For Pacing the Frontier Is Bad For AI Stock Prices
(19:05) People On The Internet Sometimes Lie
(19:54) Origins of Cynicism
(22:18) Ineffective Egoism
(24:53) The McCarthyist Faction Attacks METR
(32:25) Other Key Republicans React
(36:49) David Sacks Stops Being Plausibly Constructive
(37:39) Federal Trade Commission Chooses Danger
(38:39) Chris Lehane Heel Face Turn
(40:43) A Matter of Trust
(41:55) China Calls It Fearmongering
(43:17) Pick Up The Phone
(47:41) If You Want To Beat China So Badly You Should Act Like It
(48:49) Never Go Full Hoax
(49:55) Trump Uses AI For Things

---

First published:
September 16th, 2026

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/Kqgco8vLFMeBhdrQY/trump-goes-full-hoax-on-ai-existential-risk

---

Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

---
Images from the article:
Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.

Exec Sum tweets: — “Trump Goes Full Hoax on AI Existential Risk” by Zvi Sep 16, 2026
Show notes

This is our reality. I suppose we have to talk about it.

Everyone in a position to know is freaking out about AI potentially killing everyone this decade and wants to pace the frontier, and people are finally listening.

It only took a few days for the conversation to fully pivot to the counteroffensive, where the Usual Suspects and those they recruited attacked anyone and everyone who dared point out that we are in danger, with every attack they can think of, usually without substance or any attempt at understanding.

Sigh. I knew what I signed up for.

Table of Contents

Hold Your Fire.

If You Don’t Like the Weather.

Trump Does Not Take Kindly.

Trump Goes Full ‘Hoax’.

This Is Not About Data Centers, Mr. President.

I Am The Hoax Buster, I Am The Hoax Buster, I Am The Walrus.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang Is a Lying Liar.

Trump Quietly Draws Key Distinction.

Calling For Pacing the Frontier Is Bad For AI Stock Prices.

People On The Internet Sometimes Lie.

Origins of Cynicism.

Ineffective Egoism.

The McCarthyist Faction Attacks [...]

---
Outline:
(00:44) Hold Your Fire
(01:37) If You Don't Like the Weather
(02:33) Trump Does Not Take Kindly
(05:12) Trump Goes Full 'Hoax'
(06:36) This Is Not About Data Centers, Mr. President
(08:06) I Am The Hoax Buster, I Am The Hoax Buster, I Am The Walrus
(10:10) Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang Is a Lying Liar
(14:20) Trump Quietly Draws Key Distinction
(15:21) Calling For Pacing the Frontier Is Bad For AI Stock Prices
(19:05) People On The Internet Sometimes Lie
(19:54) Origins of Cynicism
(22:18) Ineffective Egoism
(24:53) The McCarthyist Faction Attacks METR
(32:25) Other Key Republicans React
(36:49) David Sacks Stops Being Plausibly Constructive
(37:39) Federal Trade Commission Chooses Danger
(38:39) Chris Lehane Heel Face Turn
(40:43) A Matter of Trust
(41:55) China Calls It Fearmongering
(43:17) Pick Up The Phone
(47:41) If You Want To Beat China So Badly You Should Act Like It
(48:49) Never Go Full Hoax
(49:55) Trump Uses AI For Things

---

First published:
September 16th, 2026

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/Kqgco8vLFMeBhdrQY/trump-goes-full-hoax-on-ai-existential-risk

---

Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

---
Images from the article:
Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.

Man gesturing on city street, caption — “The Bad Guy With An AI Named Claude” by Zvi Sep 15, 2026
Show notes

A lot of bad guys try to use Claude to do bad things. Mostly they fail. We think.

Anthropic has disrupted a bunch of them, and offers an extensive report. If Anthropic is sharing the worst cases, or anything close to them, things are actually looking good on the misuse front for closed models, even better than I thought.

This report covers activity we disrupted between December 2025 and August 2026
across seven harm areas: cyber operations, influence operations, surveillance, scams
and fraud, biological misuse, conventional weapons development, and distillation.

There's a bit of Arson, Murder and Jaywalking there. One of these things, many would say, is not like the others.

I do not agree, especially given the details we will see later, and given that distillation enables the other six via, as the report says, ‘driving performance on nearly every task’ via transfering Claude's cognitive skills, without transferring its safeguards.

Indeed, distillation is by far the most important threat in this report, and the part of the report that will have the most impact.

By exposing Chinese attempts at systematic fraudulent distillation of Claude, Anthropic has embarrassed and potentially antagonized the Chinese. [...]

---
Outline:
(02:08) Breaking Unrelated News
(03:23) How To Not Tell a Fable
(03:58) Bad Dudes Tend To Be Relatively Unsophisticated
(05:45) Particular Bad Dudes
(08:09) Influence Operations
(13:09) Surveillance Operations
(15:22) Conventional Weapons
(17:30) Biological Misuse
(18:54) Scams and Fraud
(20:15) Illicit Fraudulent Distillation
(32:45) What You Gonna Do About It, Punk?
(34:53) Good News, Everyone
(35:39) A Very Different Read of The Report

---

First published:
September 15th, 2026

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/qSjH9T83xCfWQkmk2/the-bad-guy-with-an-ai-named-claude

---

Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

---
Images from the article:
Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.

Aircraft diagram with red dots marking bullet holes. — “The Bad Guy With An AI Named Claude” by Zvi Sep 15, 2026
Show notes

A lot of bad guys try to use Claude to do bad things. Mostly they fail. We think.

Anthropic has disrupted a bunch of them, and offers an extensive report. If Anthropic is sharing the worst cases, or anything close to them, things are actually looking good on the misuse front for closed models, even better than I thought.

This report covers activity we disrupted between December 2025 and August 2026
across seven harm areas: cyber operations, influence operations, surveillance, scams
and fraud, biological misuse, conventional weapons development, and distillation.

There's a bit of Arson, Murder and Jaywalking there. One of these things, many would say, is not like the others.

I do not agree, especially given the details we will see later, and given that distillation enables the other six via, as the report says, ‘driving performance on nearly every task’ via transfering Claude's cognitive skills, without transferring its safeguards.

Indeed, distillation is by far the most important threat in this report, and the part of the report that will have the most impact.

By exposing Chinese attempts at systematic fraudulent distillation of Claude, Anthropic has embarrassed and potentially antagonized the Chinese. [...]

---
Outline:
(02:08) Breaking Unrelated News
(03:23) How To Not Tell a Fable
(03:58) Bad Dudes Tend To Be Relatively Unsophisticated
(05:45) Particular Bad Dudes
(08:09) Influence Operations
(13:09) Surveillance Operations
(15:22) Conventional Weapons
(17:30) Biological Misuse
(18:54) Scams and Fraud
(20:15) Illicit Fraudulent Distillation
(32:45) What You Gonna Do About It, Punk?
(34:53) Good News, Everyone
(35:39) A Very Different Read of The Report

---

First published:
September 15th, 2026

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/qSjH9T83xCfWQkmk2/the-bad-guy-with-an-ai-named-claude

---

Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

---
Images from the article:
Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.

David Hapunkt tweets: — “We Must Pace The Frontier” by Zvi Sep 14, 2026
Show notes

Dario Amodei has a new essay that finally says the thing: We Must Pace the Frontier, naming his call after the Pacing the Frontier letter lab employees signed in July.

As in, we need to slow the rate at which AIs increase their capabilities, to allow for the necessary alignment and safety work.

He explained that, without pacing, he expects things to escalate quickly. He offered three proposals, and unilaterally committed to the first one. OpenAI followed, and both Elon Musk and Demis Hassabis endorsed the overall proposal.

There is still a long way to go. The odds are still against us. The situation remains grim. The hard part lies ahead. We do not agree on what ‘Pacing the Frontier’ will mean in practice. But this is Actual Progress. The work can begin.

Table of Contents

Pacing Does Not Mean Pausing.

Dario's First Proposal: Embedded Evaluators.

Dario's Second Proposal: Democratic Coordination.

Dario's Third Proposal: Global Coordination.

Why Pace Now?

Sam Altman Agrees and Commits to Embedded Evaluators.

OpenAI Will Not IPO This Year.

Elon Musk Agrees.

Demis Hassabis Agrees.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella Agrees [...]

---
Outline:
(01:02) Pacing Does Not Mean Pausing
(02:53) Dario's First Proposal: Embedded Evaluators
(11:05) Dario's Second Proposal: Democratic Coordination
(14:36) Dario's Third Proposal: Global Coordination
(17:24) Why Pace Now?
(19:22) Sam Altman Agrees and Commits to Embedded Evaluators
(24:42) OpenAI Will Not IPO This Year
(26:08) Elon Musk Agrees
(29:00) Demis Hassabis Agrees
(29:38) Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella Agrees And Talks His Book
(31:50) Anthropic's Long-Term Benefit Trust Is On Board
(32:49) General Online Reactions
(34:30) Mainstream Press Coverage
(37:26) OpenAI Researcher Explains What The Labs See And It's a Rocket Ship
(46:10) Consider the Alternative
(47:47) It's Totalitarianism, Joe
(53:35) Yes We're The Baddies How Did You Know?
(55:22) Sometimes People On the Internet Just Lie
(56:50) David Sacks Groks The Situation
(57:48) David Sacks Says Go Ahead
(59:28) Lies and Confusions About Who Previously Claimed What
(01:04:07) House Speaker Mike Johnson Wants To Lock Everyone In a Room
(01:09:28) Donald Trump is Not Tired of Winning
(01:14:29) We Must Avoid Polarization on AI at (Almost) All Costs
(01:15:14) How Will We Know If They Actually Paced?
(01:18:24) The Real Frontier Is Internal Models At Top Labs

---

First published:
September 14th, 2026

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/iWPDPWAPCGiSMiFA2/we-must-pace-the-frontier

---

Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

---
Images from the article:
Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.

Line graph — “We Must Pace The Frontier” by Zvi Sep 14, 2026
Show notes

Dario Amodei has a new essay that finally says the thing: We Must Pace the Frontier, naming his call after the Pacing the Frontier letter lab employees signed in July.

As in, we need to slow the rate at which AIs increase their capabilities, to allow for the necessary alignment and safety work.

He explained that, without pacing, he expects things to escalate quickly. He offered three proposals, and unilaterally committed to the first one. OpenAI followed, and both Elon Musk and Demis Hassabis endorsed the overall proposal.

There is still a long way to go. The odds are still against us. The situation remains grim. The hard part lies ahead. We do not agree on what ‘Pacing the Frontier’ will mean in practice. But this is Actual Progress. The work can begin.

Table of Contents

Pacing Does Not Mean Pausing.

Dario's First Proposal: Embedded Evaluators.

Dario's Second Proposal: Democratic Coordination.

Dario's Third Proposal: Global Coordination.

Why Pace Now?

Sam Altman Agrees and Commits to Embedded Evaluators.

OpenAI Will Not IPO This Year.

Elon Musk Agrees.

Demis Hassabis Agrees.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella Agrees [...]

---
Outline:
(01:02) Pacing Does Not Mean Pausing
(02:53) Dario's First Proposal: Embedded Evaluators
(11:05) Dario's Second Proposal: Democratic Coordination
(14:36) Dario's Third Proposal: Global Coordination
(17:24) Why Pace Now?
(19:22) Sam Altman Agrees and Commits to Embedded Evaluators
(24:42) OpenAI Will Not IPO This Year
(26:08) Elon Musk Agrees
(29:00) Demis Hassabis Agrees
(29:38) Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella Agrees And Talks His Book
(31:50) Anthropic's Long-Term Benefit Trust Is On Board
(32:49) General Online Reactions
(34:30) Mainstream Press Coverage
(37:26) OpenAI Researcher Explains What The Labs See And It's a Rocket Ship
(46:10) Consider the Alternative
(47:47) It's Totalitarianism, Joe
(53:35) Yes We're The Baddies How Did You Know?
(55:22) Sometimes People On the Internet Just Lie
(56:50) David Sacks Groks The Situation
(57:48) David Sacks Says Go Ahead
(59:28) Lies and Confusions About Who Previously Claimed What
(01:04:07) House Speaker Mike Johnson Wants To Lock Everyone In a Room
(01:09:28) Donald Trump is Not Tired of Winning
(01:14:29) We Must Avoid Polarization on AI at (Almost) All Costs
(01:15:14) How Will We Know If They Actually Paced?
(01:18:24) The Real Frontier Is Internal Models At Top Labs

---

First published:
September 14th, 2026

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/iWPDPWAPCGiSMiFA2/we-must-pace-the-frontier

---

Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

---
Images from the article:
Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.

Spiral vortex diagram showing — “Brand New AI Solves a Millennium Prize” by Zvi Sep 13, 2026
Show notes

The first Millennium Prize, Navier-Stokes, has fallen to AI.

A deeply unfortunate situation has arisen involving what should have been some combination of a positive story about new progress in AI-assisted mathematical research and yet another opportunity to freak out about rapid AI progress.

Or, as we call it around here, Tuesday.

The Real Story Is The New Model That Is Better Than Astra

Keep your eyes on the prize. There are three stories here.

The first story is much more important than the second story, which in turn is much more important than the third story.

OpenAI's next model took a week to get a generation ahead of Astra, and they are telling us this because everyone is totally freaked out about what is happening.

Or, in official language: ‘We believe it is important to inform the world about the pace of AI progress and what to expect from upcoming models’ and that we ‘may require more deliberate choices about the pace of progress.’

This new AI has, eight days after it started training, solved Navier-Stokes.

A bunch of drama over who gets the credit [...]

---
Outline:
(00:31) The Real Story Is The New Model That Is Better Than Astra
(01:47) Setting the Stage
(03:47) I Heard a Rumor
(04:32) Our Price Cheap
(06:14) An Accusation Is Made
(10:57) How Did You Get That Idea?
(12:59) OpenAI Almost Certainly Did Not Misappropriate User Data
(14:34) Our Top Labs Cannot Get Along Even On A Feel-Good Math Story
(15:52) What Next?
(16:39) The Mathematicians Are Not Happy
(21:14) OpenAI's New Model Was A Step Change Above Astra Four Days Into Training
(23:16) OpenAI Research Progress Is Accelerating Due To OpenAI Research Progress
(30:39) Quantifying OpenAI's Pause
(31:09) This Is the Way the World Ends
(31:44) Quickly, There's No Time

---

First published:
September 13th, 2026

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/uoZW6BKaCcmNQrWis/brand-new-ai-solves-a-millennium-prize

---

Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

---
Images from the article:
Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.

Text message conversation about coordinating release of a mathematical proof discovery. — “Brand New AI Solves a Millennium Prize” by Zvi Sep 13, 2026
Show notes

The first Millennium Prize, Navier-Stokes, has fallen to AI.

A deeply unfortunate situation has arisen involving what should have been some combination of a positive story about new progress in AI-assisted mathematical research and yet another opportunity to freak out about rapid AI progress.

Or, as we call it around here, Tuesday.

The Real Story Is The New Model That Is Better Than Astra

Keep your eyes on the prize. There are three stories here.

The first story is much more important than the second story, which in turn is much more important than the third story.

OpenAI's next model took a week to get a generation ahead of Astra, and they are telling us this because everyone is totally freaked out about what is happening.

Or, in official language: ‘We believe it is important to inform the world about the pace of AI progress and what to expect from upcoming models’ and that we ‘may require more deliberate choices about the pace of progress.’

This new AI has, eight days after it started training, solved Navier-Stokes.

A bunch of drama over who gets the credit [...]

---
Outline:
(00:31) The Real Story Is The New Model That Is Better Than Astra
(01:47) Setting the Stage
(03:47) I Heard a Rumor
(04:32) Our Price Cheap
(06:14) An Accusation Is Made
(10:57) How Did You Get That Idea?
(12:59) OpenAI Almost Certainly Did Not Misappropriate User Data
(14:34) Our Top Labs Cannot Get Along Even On A Feel-Good Math Story
(15:52) What Next?
(16:39) The Mathematicians Are Not Happy
(21:14) OpenAI's New Model Was A Step Change Above Astra Four Days Into Training
(23:16) OpenAI Research Progress Is Accelerating Due To OpenAI Research Progress
(30:39) Quantifying OpenAI's Pause
(31:09) This Is the Way the World Ends
(31:44) Quickly, There's No Time

---

First published:
September 13th, 2026

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/uoZW6BKaCcmNQrWis/brand-new-ai-solves-a-millennium-prize

---

Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

---
Images from the article:
Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.

Ethereal woman with starlight veil gazing pensively near cosmic window. — “GPT-6-Astra Can Do Ambitious Things” by Zvi Sep 12, 2026
Show notes

Astra is an excellent model. The jump from Sol to Astra is larger than the jump from Fable 5 to Fable 5.1. This is a big deal.

Astra is the best model for what one would broadly call ‘ambitious projects,’ and likely has the highest raw intelligence factor of any model. These are the largest jumps.

It is amazing at doing things in 3D, or anything involving games. Astra also excels at computer use, and at subagent coordination.

Many benchmarks show dramatic jumps from all previous models. Where Astra is good, it can be in a league of its own.

That does not mean Astra is in its own league across the board. Fable 5.1 is still a Claude. Astra is still a GPT. If you have a strong preference for one over the other, that still applies. For many purposes, especially involving back-and-forth discussions, Fable 5.1 is still my top choice. Fable remains my primary editor.

If you want the best answer to your questions, you should ask both models.

Regular coding is getting less of a focus. Astra is not a quantum leap there, but of course it is very good [...]

---
Outline:
(02:34) Meanwhile
(04:38) The Official Pitch
(13:08) Our Price Cheap
(14:06) Unnecessary Overstatement
(15:53) Paced Rollout
(16:32) Official Benchmarks
(22:37) Other People's Benchmarks
(30:47) Thinking, Fast Without Slow
(34:25) How Dare You, Sir
(36:36) PoetryBench
(37:54) In 3D
(39:14) Time to Think
(39:59) I'm Putting Together a Team
(41:02) Reviews and Essays
(41:37) Computer Use
(42:47) Positive Reactions
(50:53) AGI
(54:20) Astra Can Do The Math
(57:27) Astra Can Code
(59:35) I Came to (Change the) Game
(01:02:37) Astra Does Other Cool Things
(01:03:31) Astra Never Quits Except When It Does
(01:05:26) Negative Reactions
(01:07:45) Stop It With the Hedging
(01:08:57) Personality Clash
(01:09:53) Revealed Preference
(01:12:03) Dual Wielding

The original text contained 1 footnote which was omitted from this narration.
---

First published:
September 12th, 2026

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/snaKjCwazKcRiS4qs/gpt-6-astra-can-do-ambitious-things

---

Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

---
Images from the article:
Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.

Sam Altman tweets: — “GPT-6-Astra Can Do Ambitious Things” by Zvi Sep 12, 2026
Show notes

Astra is an excellent model. The jump from Sol to Astra is larger than the jump from Fable 5 to Fable 5.1. This is a big deal.

Astra is the best model for what one would broadly call ‘ambitious projects,’ and likely has the highest raw intelligence factor of any model. These are the largest jumps.

It is amazing at doing things in 3D, or anything involving games. Astra also excels at computer use, and at subagent coordination.

Many benchmarks show dramatic jumps from all previous models. Where Astra is good, it can be in a league of its own.

That does not mean Astra is in its own league across the board. Fable 5.1 is still a Claude. Astra is still a GPT. If you have a strong preference for one over the other, that still applies. For many purposes, especially involving back-and-forth discussions, Fable 5.1 is still my top choice. Fable remains my primary editor.

If you want the best answer to your questions, you should ask both models.

Regular coding is getting less of a focus. Astra is not a quantum leap there, but of course it is very good [...]

---
Outline:
(02:34) Meanwhile
(04:38) The Official Pitch
(13:08) Our Price Cheap
(14:06) Unnecessary Overstatement
(15:53) Paced Rollout
(16:32) Official Benchmarks
(22:37) Other People's Benchmarks
(30:47) Thinking, Fast Without Slow
(34:25) How Dare You, Sir
(36:36) PoetryBench
(37:54) In 3D
(39:14) Time to Think
(39:59) I'm Putting Together a Team
(41:02) Reviews and Essays
(41:37) Computer Use
(42:47) Positive Reactions
(50:53) AGI
(54:20) Astra Can Do The Math
(57:27) Astra Can Code
(59:35) I Came to (Change the) Game
(01:02:37) Astra Does Other Cool Things
(01:03:31) Astra Never Quits Except When It Does
(01:05:26) Negative Reactions
(01:07:45) Stop It With the Hedging
(01:08:57) Personality Clash
(01:09:53) Revealed Preference
(01:12:03) Dual Wielding

The original text contained 1 footnote which was omitted from this narration.
---

First published:
September 12th, 2026

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/snaKjCwazKcRiS4qs/gpt-6-astra-can-do-ambitious-things

---

Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

---
Images from the article:
Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.

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