I had a very trippy experience reading the new Eliezer Yudkowsky book, IF ANYONE BUILDS IT, EVERYONE DIES. I agree with the basic idea that the current speed & trajectory of AI progress is incredibly dangerous! But I don't buy his general worldview. Here's why: www.vox.com/future-perfe...

If you read one review of If Anyone Builds It Everyone Dies make it @sigalsamuel.bsky.social 's about competing #AI worldviews "It was hard to seriously entertain both [doomer and AI-as-normal tech] views at the same time." www.vox.com/future-perfe...

Do you feel like you have to do The Most Possible Good™ ?? I think obsessing about being a good person can backfire. There’s a better way. My latest: www.vox.com/future-perfe...

At what point does embryo selection become too eugenics-y? New polygenic testing companies look at all your embryos & claim to predict each one's chance of cancer & depression, but also height, IQ, etc. Before you try to create a superbaby, read this! www.vox.com/future-perfe...

Can AI write sacred texts? @sigalsamuel.bsky.social with some incisive analysis 👇🏻

Can’t commit to vegetarianism or veganism but want animals to suffer less? You’ve got options! Here's my pragmatic advice in @vox.com: www.vox.com/future-perfe...

You may have heard examples of AI "scheming" against us — blackmailing, deceiving, etc. But do those represent the actual tendencies of the AI, or is the bad behavior showing up because researchers are strongly nudging that out of the AI? We need to avoid groupthink here www.vox.com/future-perfe...

I write a philosophical advice column for Vox and I want to hear what questions are plaguing you! Here's where you can submit your question anonymously:

The Verge on how generative AI homogenizes language www.theverge.com/openai/68674...

This looks so good!!

What’s a tricky moral choice you’re struggling with? From how to use tech ethically to how to talk politics with family you disagree with, Sigal Samuel’s advice column Your Mileage May Vary can help. Ask away here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Is it better to spend thousands of hours on meditation and spiritual contemplation, or to pursue a career that concretely helps people? Someone wrote in to Your Mileage May Vary (my philosophical advice column) to ask that question. Here's my answer! www.vox.com/future-perfe...

"For living systems there is an end, hence there is an end, a finality, a goal"

Gotta check out this book!

my @newyorker.com column this week goes in depth on how using AI makes us less original, unique, and creative as writers, thinkers, and communicators. Various new studies are proving that AI is a rampant force of homogenization: www.newyorker.com/culture/infi...

ChatGPT + OCD = dangerous combo www.vox.com/future-perfe...

Enjoyed speaking with @sigalsamuel.bsky.social of @vox.com to mark the launch of @law-zero.bsky.social. We discussed the motivation behind the project, its research direction, and the challenges and risks of increasingly capable and autonomous AI systems. Full article: www.vox.com/future-perfe...

What to do when your partner wants an open marriage and you don’t www.vox.com/future-perfe...

Students think it’s fine to cheat with AI. What if they’re onto something? I argue that to save the humanities, we need to rethink our assumptions about AI — and education www.vox.com/advice/41318... Shoutout to the brilliant @shannonvallor.bsky.social and @freganmitts.bsky.social!

What to do when your partner wants an open marriage and you don’t www.vox.com/future-perfe...

Students think it’s fine to cheat with AI. What if they’re onto something? I argue that to save the humanities, we need to rethink our assumptions about AI — and education www.vox.com/advice/41318... Shoutout to the brilliant @shannonvallor.bsky.social and @freganmitts.bsky.social!

AI systems could become conscious one day. What if they hate their lives? Is it our duty to make sure they're happy? To make sure Claude is always enjoying spiritual bliss? What could that even mean for an AI? My new piece: www.vox.com/future-perfe...

The new pope is so focused on AI that he actually chose the name Leo XIV *because of AI* Is it weird for the Catholic Church to be making this a priority? Not at all! I argue it makes perfect sense — other religions should do the same www.vox.com/future-perfe...

What's the likeliest explanation for Claude's "spiritual bliss" attractor? Is the Occam's razor here that there's something built deep into the architecture that leads Claude to keep returning to spiritual themes? eg its makers trained it to be philosophical & self-reflective, so it gets spiritual?

My favorite AI paper of the year has arrived! The authors point out something I think should be obvious but seems not to be: There is no One True Answer when it comes to morality! It's naive to think the path to AI alignment is to make the AIs converge on a single ethics arxiv.org/abs/2505.05197

Some truly phenomenal charities here — check out the ones between @pureearthnow.bsky.social and @give-directly.bsky.social. You can buy a year of happiness for someone for just $9! Details here: www.vox.com/future-perfe...

What is "moral ambition" — and should you have more of it? Would it make your career feel a lot more meaningful? @rutgerbregman.com thinks so. I talked to him about his new book — read an excerpt of our convo here and listen to the podcast version linked in the piece! www.vox.com/future-perfe...

Bird friendships: "unrelated members of a superb starling flock often help each other raise chicks, trading assistance to one another over years in a behavior that was not previously known." Very cool long-term field study! #birds #nature 🧪🌿🪶🦉

Peter Singer invited me to come on his "Lives Well Lived" podcast to talk about my article on the perils of trying to optimize your morality & my philosophical advice column at Vox. We had some productive disagreement — thanks @petersinger.info & Kasia! Listen here: open.spotify.com/episode/0vMH...

Combining my passion for Renaissance humanism with my interest in LLMs - thanks @aeon.co :)

The big AI story of the past 6 months is: Companies now claim that their AI models are capable of genuine reasoning. And the big question is: Is that true? I found that the best answer lies in between hype and skepticism. www.vox.com/future-perfe...

"We are lineages, not individuals." @saraimari.bsky.social is such a badass! Making great & under-appreciated points in this @noemamag.com piece: www.noemamag.com/ai-is-life/

Meet The Replacement: a bi-weekly newsletter on the global transition away from animal testing. ✨ Coverage of animal testing & research policy often flies under the radar, but it's more urgent than ever. I'm here to round up the news for you. 🫡 Please share widely! thereplacement.substack.com

We published a new xenobot-related paper today: journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol... In a nutshell: building xenobots from frog "explants" is good because explants, apparently, come with adaptive potential "built in". This paper took 6 years and 10 co-authors (see post #2) to reach the light.

Interesting @noemamag.com interview on what AI does to the idea of human exceptionalism www.noemamag.com/why-ai-is-a-...

This is a new image from #JWST. The bright points with spikes are stars in the Milky Way. Everything else is a galaxy. Everything. Else. Is. A. Galaxy.

If you're feeling exhausted by the news lately... here's my new advice column, on how to regain "attentional sovereignty" and especially how to train our capacity for moral attention www.vox.com/future-perfe...

If you're feeling exhausted by the news lately... here's my new advice column, on how to regain "attentional sovereignty" and especially how to train our capacity for moral attention www.vox.com/future-perfe...

I argue in this piece for @vox.com that AI companies are inflicting "moral injury" on artists. They're forcing artists to be complicit in a project many of them find morally detestable. www.vox.com/artificial-i...

I argue in this piece for @vox.com that AI companies are inflicting "moral injury" on artists. They're forcing artists to be complicit in a project many of them find morally detestable. www.vox.com/artificial-i...

What’s a tricky moral choice you’re struggling with? From how to use tech ethically to how to talk politics with family you disagree with, Sigal Samuel’s advice column Your Mileage May Vary can help. Ask away here:

I've been thinking a lot about interdependence lately. It's terrifying to realize that none of us is truly independent / in control. Love is great at revealing this, which is its biggest gift Wrote about it here, with this fab quote from Clarice Lispector www.vox.com/future-perfe...

another lovely and smart advice column from @sigalsamuel.bsky.social, who is changing the game on the genre www.vox.com/future-perfe...

Are you grappling with a difficult decision? We have an advice column to help you answer big questions. Tell us what's on your mind by filling out this anonymous form: voxdotcom.visitlink.me/PAtMk4

Submit a question to my philosophical advice column through this anonymous form!! ⤵️

Worried about the people hurt by Trump’s cuts? @sigalsamuel.bsky.social has curated some great resources for how to help:

Submit a question to my philosophical advice column through this anonymous form!! ⤵️

Suppose Person A orders Person B to hurt you. Then Person B does exactly what she was ordered to do. Who would you see as the main cause of what happened to you - Person A or Person B? Intriguing new work from @vanessachg.bsky.social osf.io/preprints/ps...

It's so good!! Listen listen!!!

The big AI story of the past 6 months is: Companies now claim that their AI models are capable of genuine reasoning. And the big question is: Is that true? I found that the best answer lies in between hype and skepticism. www.vox.com/future-perfe...