The ultimate A.I. explainer – Will it kill us all or make us rich?

Oh God, What Now?

Podmasters

Politics, Government, News, Society & Culture

4.6 • 2.5K Ratings

🗓️ 5 August 2025

⏱️ 63 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In one of the most fascinating episodes we’ve ever done Alex Hern – A.I. writer at The Economist, who writes on A.I. but isn’t one himself – joins us for an ultra-deep dive into the truth about A.I. and what it means. How far off is “artificial general intelligence”? Which jobs would it wipe out? What happens if the promised turbo-growth of 30% a year arrives? And will A.I. turn our world into fully automated luxury capitalism or a sci-fi dystopia? Puny humans Andrew Harrison and Zoë Grünewald heed the call of the machine… • Don’t miss the new episode of Talk ’90s With Me presented by Miranda Sawyer. • Get our exclusive NordVPN deal here. It’s risk-free with Nord’s 30-day money back guarantee! • Advertisers! Want to reach smart, engaged, influential people with money to spend? (Yes, they do exist). Some 3.5 MILLION people download and watch our podcasts every month – and they love our shows. Why not get YOUR brand in front of our influential listeners with podcast advertising? Contact [email protected] to find out more Escape Routes: • Alex Hern is playing Final Fantasy VII Rebirth • Zoë recently read Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer. • Andrew watched Operation Dark Phone: Murder by Text on C4. • Back us on Patreon for ad-free listening, bonus materials and more. Presented by Andrew Harrison with Zoë Grünewald. Audio production by Tom Taylor and Robin Leeburn. Art by Jim Parrett. Theme music by Cornershop. Produced by Chris Jones. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. OH GOD, WHAT NOW? is a Podmasters production. www.podmasters.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	If you like our podcasts and you want us to punch above our weight among the big broadcasters,
0:04.5	then please support us on Patreon.
0:07.1	Every single backer is worth literally thousands of individual advert plays.
0:11.5	So when you pledge to support us, it really helps.
0:14.2	Click the link in the show notes now and help us keep on podcasting.
0:17.7	Want to know the real story of how Oasis made Britain mad for it?
0:21.5	How friends turned us on to coffee culture and super-layered hair.
0:25.3	The secrets of Nirvana, train spotting, gay hookups, Diana's revenge dress,
0:30.3	and what it was really like to be a spice girl?
0:33.2	Flung back into the decade when the world fell for cool Britannia, Bumster jeans and Lemon Hooch.
0:39.2	With Talk 90s to Me, you can listen now wherever you get your podcasts.
0:43.4	And if you use Spotify, you can watch the whole show too.
0:46.8	That's Talk 90s to today, instead of both. searching for 50p for the meter. I'm Andrew Harrison. We've got some subtle changes coming up
1:11.6	on the pod in the next few weeks. Starting today, instead of both episodes covering topical
1:16.2	stories from the news, the first edition of the week, the one you're listening to now,
1:19.7	will be a bit more wide-ranging, talking about big overarching themes rather than worrying
1:24.5	about what happened in the Sunday papers. Friday will still be the more
1:27.7	topical events-based one. And to start off with today, we are looking at the big story
1:33.3	that increasingly makes all the little ones seem beside the point. The all-consuming growth of
1:38.2	artificial intelligence and the looming prospect of artificial general intelligence, the true
1:42.9	thinking machine. Never mind all the jobs
1:45.4	it will go, or the massive environmental cost of all that processing power, many AI experts
	...

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