The Surgeon General’s Social Media Warning + A.I.’s Existential Risks

<p>The U.S. surgeon general, Dr. Vivek Murthy, says social media poses a “profound risk of harm” to young people. Why do some in the tech industry disagree?</p><p>Then, Ajeya Cotra, an A.I. researcher, on how A.I. could lead to a doomsday scenario.</p><p>Plus: Pass the hat. Kevin and Casey play a game they call HatGPT.</p><p><strong>On today’s episode:</strong></p><ul><li>Ajeya Cotra is a senior research analyst at Open Philanthropy</li></ul><p><strong>Additional reading:</strong></p><ul><li>The surgeon general issued an <a href="https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/sg-youth-mental-health-social-media-advisory.pdf" target="_blank">advisory</a> about the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/23/health/surgeon-general-social-media-mental-health.html" target="_blank">risks</a> of social media for young people.</li><li>Ajeya Cotra has researched the existential risks that A.I. poses unless <a href="https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/pRkFkzwKZ2zfa3R6H/without-specific-countermeasures-the-easiest-path-to?ref=planned-obsolescence.org" target="_blank">countermeasures</a> are taken.</li><li><a href="https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/crypto-binance-money/" target="_blank">Binance commingled customer funds</a> and company revenue, former insiders told Reuters.</li><li>BuzzFeed announced <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/23/business/media/buzzfeed-botatouille-chatbot-food.html" target="_blank">Botatouille</a>, an A.I.-powered kitchen assistant.</li><li>A <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2023/5/22/23732497/twitter-bug-restoring-deleted-tweets-retweets" target="_blank">Twitter bug</a> caused the platform to restore deleted tweets.</li><li>Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/24/technology/elon-musk-desantis-twitter.html" target="_blank">announced</a> his presidential campaign in a Twitter Spaces event rife with glitches.</li><li>Two former rivals, <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2023/5/23/23733547/uber-waymo-robotaxi-phoenix-delivery-autonomous-ridehail" target="_