Barry Weiss

From the Free Press, this is Honestly, and I'm Barry Weiss. Just a few years ago, as AI technology was beginning to spill out of startups in Silicon Valley and hit our smartphones, the political and cultural conversation about this nascent technology was not yet clear, or at least it wasn't clear yet to civilians like me.

From the Free Press, this is Honestly, and I'm Barry Weiss. Just a few years ago, as AI technology was beginning to spill out of startups in Silicon Valley and hit our smartphones, the political and cultural conversation about this nascent technology was not yet clear, or at least it wasn't clear yet to civilians like me.

I remember asking former Google CEO Eric Schmidt on Honestly in January 2022 if AI was just like, and this is actually what I said, the sexy robot in Ex Machina. I literally said to him, what is AI? How do you define it? I do not understand.

I remember asking former Google CEO Eric Schmidt on Honestly in January 2022 if AI was just like, and this is actually what I said, the sexy robot in Ex Machina. I literally said to him, what is AI? How do you define it? I do not understand.

I remember asking former Google CEO Eric Schmidt on Honestly in January 2022 if AI was just like, and this is actually what I said, the sexy robot in Ex Machina. I literally said to him, what is AI? How do you define it? I do not understand.

I cringe listening back to that because today, in the waning days of 2024, not only has it become clear what AI is and how to use it, ChatGPT, just to choose one example, averages more than 120 million daily active users and processes over a billion queries per day.

I cringe listening back to that because today, in the waning days of 2024, not only has it become clear what AI is and how to use it, ChatGPT, just to choose one example, averages more than 120 million daily active users and processes over a billion queries per day.

I cringe listening back to that because today, in the waning days of 2024, not only has it become clear what AI is and how to use it, ChatGPT, just to choose one example, averages more than 120 million daily active users and processes over a billion queries per day.

But it's also becoming clear what the political and cultural ramifications and the arguments and debates around AI are and what they're going to be over the next few years. Among those big questions are who gets to lead us into this new age of AI technology? What company is going to get there first and achieve market dominance?

But it's also becoming clear what the political and cultural ramifications and the arguments and debates around AI are and what they're going to be over the next few years. Among those big questions are who gets to lead us into this new age of AI technology? What company is going to get there first and achieve market dominance?

But it's also becoming clear what the political and cultural ramifications and the arguments and debates around AI are and what they're going to be over the next few years. Among those big questions are who gets to lead us into this new age of AI technology? What company is going to get there first and achieve market dominance?

How those companies are structured so that bad actors with bad incentives can't manipulate this technology for evil purposes. What role the government should play in regulating all of this. At the center of these important questions, at least for right now, are two men, Sam Altman and Elon Musk. And if you haven't been following, they aren't exactly in alignment.

How those companies are structured so that bad actors with bad incentives can't manipulate this technology for evil purposes. What role the government should play in regulating all of this. At the center of these important questions, at least for right now, are two men, Sam Altman and Elon Musk. And if you haven't been following, they aren't exactly in alignment.

How those companies are structured so that bad actors with bad incentives can't manipulate this technology for evil purposes. What role the government should play in regulating all of this. At the center of these important questions, at least for right now, are two men, Sam Altman and Elon Musk. And if you haven't been following, they aren't exactly in alignment.

They started off as friends and business partners. In fact, Sam and Elon co-founded OpenAI, the company that makes ChatGPT, in 2015. But over the years, Elon Musk grew increasingly frustrated with OpenAI until he finally resigned from the board in 2018.

They started off as friends and business partners. In fact, Sam and Elon co-founded OpenAI, the company that makes ChatGPT, in 2015. But over the years, Elon Musk grew increasingly frustrated with OpenAI until he finally resigned from the board in 2018.

They started off as friends and business partners. In fact, Sam and Elon co-founded OpenAI, the company that makes ChatGPT, in 2015. But over the years, Elon Musk grew increasingly frustrated with OpenAI until he finally resigned from the board in 2018.

That feud escalated this past year when Elon sued Sam and OpenAI on multiple occasions to try to prevent OpenAI for launching a for-profit arm of the business, a structure that Elon claims is not only never supposed to happen in OpenAI. He likes to remind people that a nonprofit transparent company should not become a closed for-profit one.

That feud escalated this past year when Elon sued Sam and OpenAI on multiple occasions to try to prevent OpenAI for launching a for-profit arm of the business, a structure that Elon claims is not only never supposed to happen in OpenAI. He likes to remind people that a nonprofit transparent company should not become a closed for-profit one.

That feud escalated this past year when Elon sued Sam and OpenAI on multiple occasions to try to prevent OpenAI for launching a for-profit arm of the business, a structure that Elon claims is not only never supposed to happen in OpenAI. He likes to remind people that a nonprofit transparent company should not become a closed for-profit one.