Barack Obama on AI, free speech, and the future of the internet

We’ve got a good one today. I’m talking to former President Barack Obama about AI, social networks, and how to think about democracy as both of those things collide. 

I sat down with Obama last week at his offices in Washington, DC, just hours after President Joe Biden signed a sweeping executive order about AI. You’ll hear Obama say he’s been talking to the Biden administration and leaders across the tech industry about AI and how best to regulate it. My idea here was to talk to Obama the constitutional law professor more than Obama the politician. So this one got wonky fast. 

You’ll also hear him say that he joined our show because he wanted to reach you, the Decoder audience, and get you all thinking about these problems. One of Obama’s worries is that the government needs insight and expertise to properly regulate AI, and you’ll hear him make a pitch for why people with that expertise should take a tour of duty in the government to make sure we get these things right.

Links: 

• Biden releases AI executive order directing agencies to develop safety guidelines
• Clarence Thomas really wants Congress to regulate Twitter moderation
• Google CEO Sundar Pichai compares impact of AI to electricity and fire
• Sam Altman sells superintelligent sunshine as protestors call for AGI pause
• The Skokie case: How I came to represent the free speech rights of Nazis
• Disinformation is a threat to our democracy
• World leaders are gathering at the U.K.'s AI Summit. Doom is on the agenda.
• George R.R. Martin and other authors sue OpenAI for copyright infringement
• A conversation with Bing’s chatbot left me deeply unsettled
• Introducing the AI Mirror Test, which very smart people keep failing

Transcript: https://www.theverge.com/e/23712912

Credits: 

Decoder is a production of The Verge and is part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.

Today’s episode was produced by Kate Cox and Nick Statt. It was edited by Callie Wright. 

The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder. Our Executive Producer is Eleanor Donovan.

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