Bubbling questions about the limits of the AI revolution
Consider This from NPR
NPR
4.1 • 5.3K Ratings
🗓️ 24 August 2025
⏱️ 11 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
OpenAI founder Sam Altman floated the idea of an AI bubble, an MIT report found that 95% of generative AI pilots at companies are failing and tech stocks took a dip.
With the AI sector is expected to become a trillion dollar industry within the next decade, what impact might slowing progress have on the economy? NPR’s Scott Detrow speaks with Cal Newport, a contributing writer for the New Yorker, and a computer science professor at Georgetown, about the limitations of the AI revolution.
For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or atplus.npr.org.
Email us at [email protected].
This episode was produced by Elena Burnett. It was edited by John Ketchum and Eric McDaniel. Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NPR Privacy Policy
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Debates on artificial intelligence usually go about two ways. It's either hyped as a savior or derided as a Reaper lurking just around the corner. |
| 0:10.3 | But up until very recently, nearly everyone agreed that technology is evolving fast and the billions and billions of dollars invested in it are a pretty good bet. |
| 0:19.6 | Earlier this month, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg |
| 0:22.2 | announced that he thought superintelligence was within sight. I think an even more meaningful |
| 0:27.5 | impact in our lives is going to come from everyone having a personal superintelligence |
| 0:31.9 | that helps you achieve your goals, create what you want to see in the world, be a better |
| 0:36.3 | friend, and grow to become the person |
| 0:38.2 | that you aspire to be. |
| 0:39.7 | Anthropic CEO Dario Amadeh had a starker prediction that AI could eliminate up to 50% of |
| 0:46.8 | new white-collar jobs and could raise unemployment by 10 to 20%. |
| 0:51.5 | Here he was in an interview with CNN. |
| 0:53.7 | I think we do need to be raising the alarm. I think we do need to be raising the alarm. |
| 0:56.0 | I think we do need to be concerned about it. I think policymakers do need to worry about it. |
| 1:00.7 | Many policymakers are worried about it. Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, seen by many |
| 1:05.4 | as a potential presidential contender next time around, told NPR he is concerned about the next few years. |
| 1:12.1 | It'll be a bit like what I lived through as a kid in the industrial Midwest when trade and |
| 1:16.1 | automation sucked away a lot of the auto jobs in the 90s, but 10 times, maybe 100 times more |
| 1:21.1 | disruptive because it's happening on a more widespread basis and it's happening more quickly. |
| 1:25.3 | So it really seemed like the whole world was preparing for |
| 1:28.1 | the dawn of a new era. But then things shifted. Earlier this month, OpenAI launched the most |
| 1:34.0 | recent version of its flagship product, ChatGPT, which many users found disappointing. And then weeks |
| 1:40.2 | later, Sam Altman, the CEO of the same company, warned of a looming AI bubble. |
... |
Transcript will be available on the free plan in 19 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from NPR, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of NPR and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.