Episode 31: Should We Slow AI Development? Can We?

Gary and Simon discuss whether we should slow the development of AI and can we slow its pace? They explore AI's capabilities, limitations, and characteristics which have led to growing real world risks. Unpacking OpenAI's recent Hugging Face incident, they analyze the challenges of aligning AI with human intentions. Will the US be able to get ahead of these risks? Will China cooperate on developing policy regulations for AI?

This is the second part in a two-part series focusing on artificial intelligence. The first part, "What Are We Getting With All These Data Centers?" is available to listen to now.

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Host bios:

Gary Gensler, former Chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, is Professor of the Practice of Global Economics and Management, and Professor of the Practice of Finance, at MIT Sloan School of Management. His research focuses on artificial intelligence, finance, and economic policy. He previously served as Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Under Secretary of the Treasury for Domestic Finance, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, Chair of the Maryland Financial Consumer Protection Commission, and Senior Advisor to Senator Paul Sarbanes. Earlier, Gensler was at Goldman Sachs for 18 years, where he became a partner.

Simon Johnson, a 2024 Nobel laureate in economics and former Chief Economist at the International Monetary Fund, is the Ronald A. Kurtz Professor of Entrepreneurship at MIT Sloan School of Management, head of its Global Economics and Management group, and Co-Director of MIT’s Stone Center for Inequality and Shaping the Future of Work. He co-chairs the CFA Institute Systemic Risk Council and is an AI Ambassador for the UK. Simon is the author of 13 Bankers, Jump-Starting America, and Power and Progress: Our Thousand-Year Struggle Over Technology and Prosperity.

Gary & Simon also recently co-edited, with Ugo Panizza and Beatrice Weder di Mauro, The Economic Consequences of the Second Trump Administration.