Tristan Harris

What if we're being sold a false promise to justify a dangerous race and just to make a handful of people incredibly wealthy and powerful and avoid regulation?

Our guest today argues that this is some of what is happening.

Dr. Amelia Jaworski is a physician, public health researcher, and director of the Futures Program at the Future of Life Institute.

She's worked across scientific research, clinical trials, tech startups, and AI policy.

And she recently wrote a paper called How AI Can and Can't Cure Cancer, in which she argues that the promise of superintelligence curing cancer falls apart under scrutiny, and that we can't use this false promise to justify the peril that we're currently facing.

We're going to link to that in the show notes.

This is a deeply personal conversation for both of us.

Emilia also lost a parent to cancer.

So hear her criticism of this promise as coming from a place of real concern and not just cynicism.

It also comes from the belief that AI can be really revolutionary for medicine, but not in the way we're building it today.

So, Emilia, welcome to Your Undivided Attention.

So first, I'll just say, Amelia and I are friends, and she's an incredible ally in this work.

We were at the South by Southwest conference earlier this year.

And you talked about the work that you've been doing on AI and cancer.

And I was struck by how personal this is for you, since you lost a parent to cancer.

Before we get into your arguments, can you just talk about your experience of that and how it shaped your thinking?

Yeah, I mean, having lost my own mother in 2018, Aza co-hosted this podcast.

He lost his father to pancreatic cancer.

I just want to establish, I think it goes without saying, anybody who has this in their family with a loved one

wants to accelerate anything that will save their life, anything that has a chance.