LessWrong posts by zvi

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**LessWrong posts by zvi**

Audio narrations of LessWrong posts by zvi

Latest Episodes:

Cartoon showing person in robe with coffee watching orange character typing at computer. — **“Claude Codes” by Zvi** Jan 09, 2026
Show notes

Claude Code with Opus 4.5 is so hot right now. The cool kids use it for everything.

They definitely use it for coding, often letting it write all of their code.

They also increasingly use it for everything else one can do with a computer.

Vas suggests using Claude Code as you would a mini-you/employee that lives in your computer and can do literally anything.

There's this thread of people saying Claude Code with Opus 4.5 is AGI in various senses. I centrally don’t agree, but they definitely have a point.

If you’d like, you can use local Claude Code via Claude Desktop, documentation here. It's a bit friendlier than the terminal and some people like it a lot more. Here is a more extensive basic discussion of setup options. The problem is the web interface still lacks some power user functions, even after some config work Daniel San misses branch management, create new repository directory via ‘new’ and import plugins from marketplaces.

If you haven’t checked Claude Code out, you need to check it out.

This could be you:

Paulius: whoever made this is making me FEEL SEEN

**Table [...]**

---
**Outline:**
(01:32) Hype!
(06:26) My Own Experiences
(11:35) Now With More Recursive Self Improvement
(13:06) A Market Of One
(13:46) Some Examples Of People Using Claude Code Recently
(20:25) Dealing With Context Limits
(21:08) The Basic Claude Code Setup
(23:14) Random Claude Code Extension Examples I've Seen Recently
(25:09) Skilling Up
(31:23) Reasons Not To Get Overexcited
(37:33) Get Pretty Excited

---

First published:
January 9th, 2026

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/MQGAMHQNTFyJTke2H/claude-codes

---

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.*

Ani (not your typical finance... tweets: — **“Claude Codes” by Zvi** Jan 09, 2026
Show notes

Claude Code with Opus 4.5 is so hot right now. The cool kids use it for everything.

They definitely use it for coding, often letting it write all of their code.

They also increasingly use it for everything else one can do with a computer.

Vas suggests using Claude Code as you would a mini-you/employee that lives in your computer and can do literally anything.

There's this thread of people saying Claude Code with Opus 4.5 is AGI in various senses. I centrally don’t agree, but they definitely have a point.

If you’d like, you can use local Claude Code via Claude Desktop, documentation here. It's a bit friendlier than the terminal and some people like it a lot more. Here is a more extensive basic discussion of setup options. The problem is the web interface still lacks some power user functions, even after some config work Daniel San misses branch management, create new repository directory via ‘new’ and import plugins from marketplaces.

If you haven’t checked Claude Code out, you need to check it out.

This could be you:

Paulius: whoever made this is making me FEEL SEEN

**Table [...]**

---
**Outline:**
(01:32) Hype!
(06:26) My Own Experiences
(11:35) Now With More Recursive Self Improvement
(13:06) A Market Of One
(13:46) Some Examples Of People Using Claude Code Recently
(20:25) Dealing With Context Limits
(21:08) The Basic Claude Code Setup
(23:14) Random Claude Code Extension Examples I've Seen Recently
(25:09) Skilling Up
(31:23) Reasons Not To Get Overexcited
(37:33) Get Pretty Excited

---

First published:
January 9th, 2026

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/MQGAMHQNTFyJTke2H/claude-codes

---

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.*

Greg Kamradt tweets: — **“AI #150: While Claude Codes” by Zvi** Jan 08, 2026
Show notes

Claude Code is the talk of the town, and of the Twitter. It has reached critical mass.

Suddenly, everyone is talking about how it is transforming their workflows. This includes non-coding workflows, as it can handle anything a computer can do. People are realizing the power of what it can do, building extensions and tools, configuring their setups, and watching their worlds change.

I’ll be covering that on its own soon. This covers everything else, including ChatGPT Health and the new rounds from xAI and Anthropic.

**Table of Contents**

Language Models Offer Mundane Utility. Even Rufus, Amazon's Choice.

Language Models Don’t Offer Mundane Utility. They don’t believe you.

Language Models Have All The Fun. In glorious AI future, does game play you?

Huh, Upgrades. Claude Code 2.1.0, and JP Morgan using AI for its proxy advice.

On Your Marks. Yes, Meta pretty much did fraud with the Llama 4 benchmarks.

Deepfaketown and Botpocalypse Soon. The year of doing real things?

Fun With Media Generation. The art of making people believe a human made it.

You Drive Me Crazy. Crazy productive.

They Took Our Jobs. Will [...]

---
**Outline:**
(00:46) Language Models Offer Mundane Utility
(01:18) Language Models Don't Offer Mundane Utility
(01:52) Language Models Have All The Fun
(02:57) Huh, Upgrades
(03:42) On Your Marks
(04:12) Deepfaketown and Botpocalypse Soon
(07:39) Fun With Media Generation
(07:55) You Drive Me Crazy
(10:10) They Took Our Jobs
(13:35) Get Involved
(14:08) Introducing
(16:46) In Other AI News
(18:31) Show Me the Money
(20:30) Bubble, Bubble, Toil and Trouble
(21:32) Quiet Speculations
(24:25) The Quest for Sane Regulations
(27:32) AGI and Taxation
(31:29) Chip City
(31:46) The Week in Audio
(31:54) Aligning a Smarter Than Human Intelligence is Difficult
(33:17) People Are Worried About AI Killing Everyone
(34:27) The Lighter Side

---

First published:
January 8th, 2026

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/fWJsqHXHBAEd8rq69/ai-150-while-claude-codes

---

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 with microphone and text — **“AI #150: While Claude Codes” by Zvi** Jan 08, 2026
Show notes

Claude Code is the talk of the town, and of the Twitter. It has reached critical mass.

Suddenly, everyone is talking about how it is transforming their workflows. This includes non-coding workflows, as it can handle anything a computer can do. People are realizing the power of what it can do, building extensions and tools, configuring their setups, and watching their worlds change.

I’ll be covering that on its own soon. This covers everything else, including ChatGPT Health and the new rounds from xAI and Anthropic.

**Table of Contents**

Language Models Offer Mundane Utility. Even Rufus, Amazon's Choice.

Language Models Don’t Offer Mundane Utility. They don’t believe you.

Language Models Have All The Fun. In glorious AI future, does game play you?

Huh, Upgrades. Claude Code 2.1.0, and JP Morgan using AI for its proxy advice.

On Your Marks. Yes, Meta pretty much did fraud with the Llama 4 benchmarks.

Deepfaketown and Botpocalypse Soon. The year of doing real things?

Fun With Media Generation. The art of making people believe a human made it.

You Drive Me Crazy. Crazy productive.

They Took Our Jobs. Will [...]

---
**Outline:**
(00:46) Language Models Offer Mundane Utility
(01:18) Language Models Don't Offer Mundane Utility
(01:52) Language Models Have All The Fun
(02:57) Huh, Upgrades
(03:42) On Your Marks
(04:12) Deepfaketown and Botpocalypse Soon
(07:39) Fun With Media Generation
(07:55) You Drive Me Crazy
(10:10) They Took Our Jobs
(13:35) Get Involved
(14:08) Introducing
(16:46) In Other AI News
(18:31) Show Me the Money
(20:30) Bubble, Bubble, Toil and Trouble
(21:32) Quiet Speculations
(24:25) The Quest for Sane Regulations
(27:32) AGI and Taxation
(31:29) Chip City
(31:46) The Week in Audio
(31:54) Aligning a Smarter Than Human Intelligence is Difficult
(33:17) People Are Worried About AI Killing Everyone
(34:27) The Lighter Side

---

First published:
January 8th, 2026

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/fWJsqHXHBAEd8rq69/ai-150-while-claude-codes

---

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.*

Map showing Waymo's Bay Area service coverage from San Francisco to San Jose. — **“Advancements In Self-Driving Cars” by Zvi** Jan 07, 2026
Show notes

**Going Full San Francisco**

Waymo goes Full San Francisco West Bay except for SFO:

Jeff Dean: Exciting expansion! @Waymo now serves the whole SF Bay Area Peninsula from SF to San Jose and is taking riders on freeways.

They can serve SJC, and SFO is almost ready, employee rides are in place and public rides are ‘coming soon.’

Brandan: Would be nice if @Waymo comes across the bay to Berkeley!

Jeff Dean: We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it!

**Going Down The Highway**

Waymo is going to start using freeways in Phoenix, Los Angeles and San Francisco. That's a big deal for longer rides, but there is still the problem that Waymos have to obey the technical speed limit. On freeways no huamn driver does this, so obeying the technical speed limit is both slower and more dangerous. We are going to need a regulatory solution, ideally that allows you to drive at the average observed speed.

**Looking For Adventure**

This is all a big unlock, but it depends on having enough cars to take advantage.

At this point, aside from regulatory barriers in some places like [...]

---
**Outline:**
(00:10) Going Full San Francisco
(01:03) Going Down The Highway
(01:33) Looking For Adventure
(02:38) And Whatever Comes Our Way
(05:38) It's Coming
(06:20) Who Stands In The Way
(08:59) My One Weakness
(11:20) The path forward
(15:59) Cruise Control
(18:24) Growth Rates
(20:02) The Competition
(21:21) They Took Our Jobs
(22:44) Bikers As Winners
(23:21) The Elderly As Big Winners
(26:19) Save The Cat
(29:24) It's Going To Be The Future Soon
(31:12) In-Context Old Man Yells At Self-Driving Car
(32:07) The Safety Case
(34:12) Keep It Classy
(34:39) The Lighter Side

---

First published:
January 7th, 2026

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/ry3SyA92bJCPe75Nt/advancements-in-self-driving-cars

---

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 showing — **“Advancements In Self-Driving Cars” by Zvi** Jan 07, 2026
Show notes

**Going Full San Francisco**

Waymo goes Full San Francisco West Bay except for SFO:

Jeff Dean: Exciting expansion! @Waymo now serves the whole SF Bay Area Peninsula from SF to San Jose and is taking riders on freeways.

They can serve SJC, and SFO is almost ready, employee rides are in place and public rides are ‘coming soon.’

Brandan: Would be nice if @Waymo comes across the bay to Berkeley!

Jeff Dean: We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it!

**Going Down The Highway**

Waymo is going to start using freeways in Phoenix, Los Angeles and San Francisco. That's a big deal for longer rides, but there is still the problem that Waymos have to obey the technical speed limit. On freeways no huamn driver does this, so obeying the technical speed limit is both slower and more dangerous. We are going to need a regulatory solution, ideally that allows you to drive at the average observed speed.

**Looking For Adventure**

This is all a big unlock, but it depends on having enough cars to take advantage.

At this point, aside from regulatory barriers in some places like [...]

---
**Outline:**
(00:10) Going Full San Francisco
(01:03) Going Down The Highway
(01:33) Looking For Adventure
(02:38) And Whatever Comes Our Way
(05:38) It's Coming
(06:20) Who Stands In The Way
(08:59) My One Weakness
(11:20) The path forward
(15:59) Cruise Control
(18:24) Growth Rates
(20:02) The Competition
(21:21) They Took Our Jobs
(22:44) Bikers As Winners
(23:21) The Elderly As Big Winners
(26:19) Save The Cat
(29:24) It's Going To Be The Future Soon
(31:12) In-Context Old Man Yells At Self-Driving Car
(32:07) The Safety Case
(34:12) Keep It Classy
(34:39) The Lighter Side

---

First published:
January 7th, 2026

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/ry3SyA92bJCPe75Nt/advancements-in-self-driving-cars

---

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.*

Map showing fertility rates by U.S. state with color-coded legend. — **“Fertility Roundup #6: The Art of More Dakka” by Zvi** Jan 06, 2026
Show notes

The central message of the fertility roundups has always been that we have a choice.

If we do want to raise fertility, we can do that. People respond to incentives. That means money, especially if paid up front, and it also means time, lifestyle and respect.

If we do it purely with cash, it would be expensive, but a well-designed version of this would still be net profitable to the state. On the order of $300k per additional live birth would get this done in the United States, depending on how you structure it. This is not money spent, it is money transferred, and it helps the kids quite a lot.

If we do it by dealing with the Revolution of Rising Requirements, by providing non-cash advantages or changing the culture, that's a more complex intervention, but we have options that let us do far better.

Those who disagree have tried almost nothing, and are all out of ideas.

**Selection**

Alex Strudwick Young: Today parents can, for the first time, access polygenic embryo testing for IQ and many diseases through a routine test (PGT-A) done worldwide and in 60% of US IVF cycles.
[...]
---
**Outline:**
(01:05) Selection
(02:22) Surrogacy
(02:46) IVF
(08:05) Technological Versus Social Solutions
(09:32) Dakka
(10:51) All The Dakka
(12:24) Insufficient Dakka Works Insufficiently
(14:35) The Effectiveness of Dakka
(17:47) The Wrong Dakka
(18:52) Dakka Does Not Disproportionally Motivate The Poor
(21:25) Is That a Lot?
(25:23) Alternative Dakka
(26:38) The Housing Theory of Everything Is Undefeated
(35:58) Happiness
(37:16) Negative Dakka
(38:44) Mother's Day
(39:41) Status
(43:34) Hungary
(46:20) Audio
(46:26) NatalCon
(46:50) Housing Discrimination
(47:20) Your Own Quest
(49:36) Hope

---

First published:
January 6th, 2026

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/xJw5eetbzNNu9SiSZ/fertility-roundup-6-the-art-of-more-dakka

---

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.*

Poll showing responses about number of kids: 3 kids, 5 kids, 10 kids, or no change. — **“Fertility Roundup #6: The Art of More Dakka” by Zvi** Jan 06, 2026
Show notes

The central message of the fertility roundups has always been that we have a choice.

If we do want to raise fertility, we can do that. People respond to incentives. That means money, especially if paid up front, and it also means time, lifestyle and respect.

If we do it purely with cash, it would be expensive, but a well-designed version of this would still be net profitable to the state. On the order of $300k per additional live birth would get this done in the United States, depending on how you structure it. This is not money spent, it is money transferred, and it helps the kids quite a lot.

If we do it by dealing with the Revolution of Rising Requirements, by providing non-cash advantages or changing the culture, that's a more complex intervention, but we have options that let us do far better.

Those who disagree have tried almost nothing, and are all out of ideas.

**Selection**

Alex Strudwick Young: Today parents can, for the first time, access polygenic embryo testing for IQ and many diseases through a routine test (PGT-A) done worldwide and in 60% of US IVF cycles.
[...]
---
**Outline:**
(01:05) Selection
(02:22) Surrogacy
(02:46) IVF
(08:05) Technological Versus Social Solutions
(09:32) Dakka
(10:51) All The Dakka
(12:24) Insufficient Dakka Works Insufficiently
(14:35) The Effectiveness of Dakka
(17:47) The Wrong Dakka
(18:52) Dakka Does Not Disproportionally Motivate The Poor
(21:25) Is That a Lot?
(25:23) Alternative Dakka
(26:38) The Housing Theory of Everything Is Undefeated
(35:58) Happiness
(37:16) Negative Dakka
(38:44) Mother's Day
(39:41) Status
(43:34) Hungary
(46:20) Audio
(46:26) NatalCon
(46:50) Housing Discrimination
(47:20) Your Own Quest
(49:36) Hope

---

First published:
January 6th, 2026

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/xJw5eetbzNNu9SiSZ/fertility-roundup-6-the-art-of-more-dakka

---

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.*

Political cartoon showing indigenous people facing approaching armored soldiers labeled — **“Dos Capital” by Zvi** Jan 05, 2026
Show notes

This week, Philip Trammell and Dwarkesh Patel wrote Capital in the 22nd Century.

One of my goals for Q1 2026 is to write unified explainer posts for all the standard economic debates around potential AI futures in a systematic fashion. These debates tend to repeatedly cover the same points, and those making economic arguments continuously assume you must be misunderstanding elementary economic principles, or failing to apply them for no good reason. Key assumptions are often unstated and even unrealized, and also false or even absurd. Reference posts are needed.

That will take longer, so instead this post covers the specific discussions and questions around the post by Trammell and Patel. My goal is to both meet that post on its own terms, and also point out the central ways its own terms are absurd, and the often implicit assumptions they make that are unlikely to hold.

**What Trammell and Patel Are Centrally Claiming As A Default Outcome**

They affirm, as do I, that Piketty was centrally wrong about capital accumulation in the past, for many well understood reasons, many of which they lay out.

They then posit that Piketty could have been unintentionally [...]

---
**Outline:**
(01:02) What Trammell and Patel Are Centrally Claiming As A Default Outcome
(03:15) Does The Above Conclusion Follow From The Above Premises?
(03:30) Sounds Like This Is Not Our Main Problem In This Scenario?
(07:31) To Be Clear This Scenario Doesn't Make Sense
(13:51) Ad Argumento
(14:44) The Baseline Scenario
(16:31) Would We Have An Inequality Problem?
(20:57) No You Can't Simply Let Markets Handle Everything
(22:22) Proposed Solutions
(25:55) Wealth Taxes Today Are Grade-A Stupid
(28:27) Tyler Cowen Responds With Econ Equations
(30:29) Brian Albrecht Responds With More Equations

---

First published:
January 5th, 2026

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/pQwNgB7ytwqTxxYue/dos-capital

---

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.*

“Fertility Roundup #5: Causation” by Zvi Jan 02, 2026

Show notes

There are two sides of developments in fertility. How bad is it? What is causing the massive, catastrophic declines in fertility? What can we do to stabilize and reverse these trends to a sustainable level? Today I’m going to focus on news about what is happening and why, and next time I’ll ask what we’ve learned since last check-in about we could perhaps do about it. One could consider all this a supplement to my sequence on The Revolution of Rising Expectations, and The Revolution of Rising Requirements. That's the central dynamic. Household Composition What is happening? A chart worth looking at every so often. Timing Michael Arouet: No way. WTF happened in 1971? This is United States data: The replies include a bunch of other graphs that also go in bad directions starting in 1971-73. Developmental Idealism Lyman Stone, in his first Substack post, lays the blame for fertility drops in non-Western countries primarily on drops in desire for children, via individuals choosing Developmental Idealism. Lyman Stone: Five Basic Arguments for Understanding Fertility: Data has to be read “vertically” (longitudinally), not [...] ---Outline:(00:46) Household Composition(01:06) Timing(01:37) Developmental Idealism(04:47) Pessimism(05:51) Baby Boom(06:53) Paperwork(08:24) Car Seats As Contraception(11:14) You Can't Afford It(12:23) Yes The Problem Is Often Money(12:57) Housework(15:13) Greedy Careers(18:24) The Appeal of Child-Free(19:30) Motivation(22:06) Grandparents(25:26) Expectations of Impossibility(28:04) Isolation(30:00) Decoupling(31:45) South Korea(39:20) World(39:54) Various Places in Trouble(40:51) China(44:25) Russia(44:39) Europe(45:34) America(46:43) Kazakhstan(47:10) Israel(48:56) Consequences(49:49) Unfounded Optimism(50:56) History(51:44) Implications --- First published:January 2nd, 2026 Source:https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/SSQDuWDsbXH3kujPb/fertility-roundup-5-causation --- 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.

Full show notes at the publisher

GitHub contribution-style activity heatmap showing usage statistics from October to December. — **“AI #149: 3” by Zvi** Jan 01, 2026
Show notes

The Rationalist Project was our last best hope that we might not try to build it.

It failed.

But in the year of the Coding Agent, it became something greater: our last, best hope – for everyone not dying.

This is what 2026 looks like. The place is Lighthaven.

**Table of Contents**

Language Models Offer Mundane Utility. 2026 is an age of wonders.

Claude Code. The age of humans writing code may be coming to an end.

Language Models Don’t Offer Mundane Utility. Your dog's dead, Jimmy.

Deepfaketown and Botpocalypse Soon. Keep your nonsense simple.

Fun With Media Generation. YouTube facing less AI slop than I’d expect.

You Drive Me Crazy. Another lawsuit against OpenAI. This one is a murder.

They Took Our Jobs. Yet another round of ‘oh but comparative advantage.’

Doctor Doctor. Yes a lot of people still want a human doctor, on principle.

Jevons Paradox Strikes Again. It holds until it doesn’t.

Unprompted Attention. Concepts, not prompts.

The Art of the Jailbreak. Love, Pliny.

Get Involved. CAISI wants an intern, OpenAI hiring a head of preparedness.

Introducing. [...]

---
**Outline:**
(00:30) Language Models Offer Mundane Utility
(01:34) Claude Code
(08:49) Language Models Don't Offer Mundane Utility
(10:04) Deepfaketown and Botpocalypse Soon
(12:17) Fun With Media Generation
(12:47) You Drive Me Crazy
(13:39) They Took Our Jobs
(17:46) Doctor Doctor
(18:46) Jevons Paradox Strikes Again
(20:52) Unprompted Attention
(22:42) The Art of the Jailbreak
(23:22) Get Involved
(24:09) Introducing
(24:30) In Other AI News
(25:56) Show Me the Money
(26:14) Quiet Speculations
(29:38) People Really Do Not Like AI
(32:23) Americans Remain Optimistic About AI?
(33:40) Thank You, Next
(36:36) The Quest for Sane Regulations
(39:42) Chip City
(42:54) Rhetorical Innovation
(43:29) Aligning a Smarter Than Human Intelligence is Difficult
(44:25) People Are Worried About AI Killing Everyone
(44:45) The Lighter Side

---

First published:
January 1st, 2026

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/qp7kEfd2MnGRR8evZ/ai-149-3

---

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.*

Before and after photos of a renovated front door entrance. — **“AI #149: 3” by Zvi** Jan 01, 2026
Show notes

The Rationalist Project was our last best hope that we might not try to build it.

It failed.

But in the year of the Coding Agent, it became something greater: our last, best hope – for everyone not dying.

This is what 2026 looks like. The place is Lighthaven.

**Table of Contents**

Language Models Offer Mundane Utility. 2026 is an age of wonders.

Claude Code. The age of humans writing code may be coming to an end.

Language Models Don’t Offer Mundane Utility. Your dog's dead, Jimmy.

Deepfaketown and Botpocalypse Soon. Keep your nonsense simple.

Fun With Media Generation. YouTube facing less AI slop than I’d expect.

You Drive Me Crazy. Another lawsuit against OpenAI. This one is a murder.

They Took Our Jobs. Yet another round of ‘oh but comparative advantage.’

Doctor Doctor. Yes a lot of people still want a human doctor, on principle.

Jevons Paradox Strikes Again. It holds until it doesn’t.

Unprompted Attention. Concepts, not prompts.

The Art of the Jailbreak. Love, Pliny.

Get Involved. CAISI wants an intern, OpenAI hiring a head of preparedness.

Introducing. [...]

---
**Outline:**
(00:30) Language Models Offer Mundane Utility
(01:34) Claude Code
(08:49) Language Models Don't Offer Mundane Utility
(10:04) Deepfaketown and Botpocalypse Soon
(12:17) Fun With Media Generation
(12:47) You Drive Me Crazy
(13:39) They Took Our Jobs
(17:46) Doctor Doctor
(18:46) Jevons Paradox Strikes Again
(20:52) Unprompted Attention
(22:42) The Art of the Jailbreak
(23:22) Get Involved
(24:09) Introducing
(24:30) In Other AI News
(25:56) Show Me the Money
(26:14) Quiet Speculations
(29:38) People Really Do Not Like AI
(32:23) Americans Remain Optimistic About AI?
(33:40) Thank You, Next
(36:36) The Quest for Sane Regulations
(39:42) Chip City
(42:54) Rhetorical Innovation
(43:29) Aligning a Smarter Than Human Intelligence is Difficult
(44:25) People Are Worried About AI Killing Everyone
(44:45) The Lighter Side

---

First published:
January 1st, 2026

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/qp7kEfd2MnGRR8evZ/ai-149-3

---

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.*

“2025 Year in Review” by Zvi Dec 31, 2025

Show notes

It's that time. It's been a hell of a year.

At the start we barely had reasoning models. Now we have Claude Code and Opus 4.5.

I don’t code. Yet now I cause code to exist whenever something about a website annoys me, or when I get that programmer's realization that there's something I am planning on doing at least three times. Because why not?

The progress has simultaneously been mind bogglingly impressive and fast. But a lot of people don’t see it that way, because progress has been incremental, and because we were reasonably expecting to often get even more than this.

The public conversation and debate, even more than before, was full of false narratives and active attempts to make the situation worse. The same goes for attempts to shape Federal policy towards AI, and OpenAI's conversion into a for-profit.

It's been, as they say, one battle after another, with many wins, many setbacks and a lot of things in between.

This includes the key developments in AI, and also other blog posts from the year that I consider memorable looking back.

This is only our corner of the world's [...]

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Outline:

(01:26) January

(03:50) February

(06:58) March

(08:15) April

(09:24) May

(11:06) June

(12:02) July