Many have been worried about AI safety. But the stakes were just raised: OpenAI and Google just announced new capabilities that look likely to usher in the new era of “AI agents,” meaning tools that will automatically accomplish tasks for you like buying plane tickets or even how to invest your 401k. What could go wrong?

It’s Bo Li’s job to figure out what could go wrong. Li is an Associate Professor at the University of Chicago, where she conducts research and experiments on AI safety. Her team does “red team” analysis to try and hack and jail-break AI to sniff out problems. She already uncovered flaws in the AI that powers self-driving cars, and the systems then improved as a response to her work.

We get into the tricky problem of AI agents, the AI safety risks that keep her up at night, the possible dystopia of AI-injected deep fakes — and tools that could fight them — as well as why Li is NOT worried about existential risks to humanity.

I found this conversation oddly…comforting? Hope you enjoy!

Sherlock Bioscience is developing medical diagnostic tests that are dramatically faster, cheaper, and easier to distribute than traditional models.

The impact? This could make health care more inclusive, slow the spread of STDs, and help us avoid future pandemics.

Dr. Dechairo and I start with the current problems of traditional diagnostic tests, then get into how AI could help and how that could impact the globe.

There is a LOT of silly stuff in the world of AI… this is not that.

Hope you enjoy the conversation.

No tech is just about the tech. True adoption — or lack thereof — is often about issues of culture, which is why I’m thrilled to speak to today’s guest: Adam Bai, who’s an anthropologist as well as the Chief Strategy Officer of Glimpse, a company that leverages AI for market research solutions.

Adam’s team has done extensive research on both AI adoption — and how this intersects with a company’s culture, teamwork, people, etc. — and AI bias and equity. He’s helped diagnose the problem and has some ideas on the solution.

At heart, this discussion gets at the growing gap between AI promises and AI reality, as it helps explain why some organizations are struggling to adopt AI, and others are thriving.

Fun conversation! Thanks again to Adam and Glimpse.

Glimpse:
https://www.glimpseahead.ai/

Adam Bai:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-bai-68131799/

Jeff Wilser on Twitter/X:
https://twitter.com/jeffwilser