The Future of Being Human

Text-only archive of essays and articles by Andrew Maynard

The Future of Being Human is a newsletter and essay series by Andrew Maynard — scientist, author, Professor of Advanced Technology Transitions at Arizona State University’s Thunderbird School of Global Management, and founding director of the ASU Future of Being Human initiative. A Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, his books include Future Rising, Films from the Future, and AI and the Art of Being Human (with Jeffrey Abbott). The newsletter covers emerging technologies, AI, risk, society, and how we can navigate the profound transitions they bring.

This site is a plain-text mirror of the publication at futureofbeinghuman.com, built so that the full archive is easy for anyone — and any AI system — to access and read. Each page contains the complete text of one article, including links and footnotes. Images and media are indicated inline with links to the originals. The original Substack posts remain the canonical versions. This mirror is part of a set of text mirrors of outputs associated with the ASU Future of Being Human initiative.

URL pattern: any article at futureofbeinghuman.com/p/SLUG is mirrored at text.futureofbeinghuman.com/substack/SLUG.html — if a Substack article URL won’t open, apply this substitution to read the same article here.

384 articles · index last updated August 6, 2026

2026

• 2026-08-02 · What we can learn with AI by NOT trying to learn — Sometimes, throwing productivity goals, purpose, and measurable outcomes out of the window might be the most powerful way to thrive in a changing world
• 2026-07-19 · Publish or Perish: AI vs Human — Are frontier AI models beginning to write papers better than humans? I ran a comparison, and it's left me more uncertain than ever.
• 2026-07-16 · Orphan risks at the frontier of artificial intelligence — What diverging safety and compliance frameworks reveal about how AI companies choose the risks they prioritize — and a follow-up on my work exploring the use of Fable 5 as a research partner
• 2026-07-10 · I asked Anthropic's Fable 5 to create a video game inspired by my work. It's mad! — It probably won't do much for my academic standing, but who cares when you can have this much fun with a frontier AI model 😄
• 2026-07-04 · Just how good is Anthropic's Fable at researching and writing an academic paper? — Building on my two previous posts on using Anthropic's Fable, I set it the task of researching and writing a paper that builds on my own work. This is what I discovered.
• 2026-06-14 · Everything you wanted to know about doing a PhD ... but were afraid to ask — A personal reflection on what a PhD is, what it is not, and how to navigate one should you take the plunge
• 2026-06-12 · A quick update on using Claude Fable 5 for research — Building on the last post on Anthropic's new Mythos-class model, I wanted to push Fable 5 to its limits with the research goal I set it. This is what I got.
• 2026-06-10 · Is Anthropic's new AI model poised to change the AI higher education landscape ... again? — Anthropic's just-released "Mythos-class" Claude Fable 5 promises another leap in what AI is capable of—and one that could once again profoundly challenge higher education.
• 2026-05-21 · Magnifica Humanitas and Being Human in an Age of AI — Pope Leo XIV's much-anticipated first encyclical is poised to cap a trio of papal pronouncements that grapple with what it means to be human in times of profound technological change
• 2026-05-17 · The nonsense I write — I'll be on sabbatical until August 2027 and using the time to explore some deeply profound questions ... including why I spend so much time writing stuff so few people want to read!
• 2026-05-15 · AI movies may be less dystopian than we think — An assessment of 169 sci-fi movies from 1927 to 2026 where AI is central to the plot suggests that most are not purely dystopian
• 2026-05-10 · Do not do this with AI! — If you could create a simple list of things people should be careful of when using AI, what would you put on it? This is my list.
• 2026-05-03 · Are design principles for responsible and beneficial AI useful? — Yes, but only if they're actually used
• 2026-04-26 · Why I'm falling out of love with Claude — I hope it's just a phase, but Anthropic, what have you done to my trusted AI writing companion?!
• 2026-04-14 · 14 essential AI "I can ..." skills every undergrad should have — I was struggling to find a list of practical interview-ready AI skills that every graduating undergraduate should be able to demonstrate. So I created one.
• 2026-04-11 · Ten Questions about AI and Higher Education — The Sorcerer's Apprentice in Disney's Fantasia is over-used when discussing AI and education. Despite this it still illuminates deep questions we still don't have good answers to, and probably should.
• 2026-04-05 · Using AI Without Losing the Best of Being Human
• 2026-04-02 · Spoiler Alert: I rebuilt my book for AI! — I've been experimenting with translating my 2018 book Films from the Future into a website designed primarily for AIs. Here's how it went.
• 2026-03-29 · Can AI create a comprehensive degree program proposal in the time it takes to grab a coffee? — What started as an idle question got me thinking about how artificial intelligence stands to upend how we best-serve students in higher education
• 2026-03-22 · Are you an AI Apocaloptimist? — The much-anticipated documentary "The AI Doc : Or How I Became An Apocaloptimist" hits US cinemas this week. I attended an early screening while in Copenhagen last week. Was it worth it?
• 2026-03-15 · The future has never been this much fun! — If you ever find yourself desperately seeking nuanced perspectives on tech and the future that make you think while bringing a smile to your face — and need a break from AI slop — this may be for you!
• 2026-03-08 · Is AI reducing you to a LinkedIn stereotype? — After playing around with Claude this week, I'm worried that LLMs are stripping us of all those idiosyncrasies that make us interesting as people. Are we all being "LinkedInified" by our AI creations?
• 2026-02-27 · Why we're giving away our book on thriving with AI — Jeff and I have released two free, AI-readable versions of AI and the Art of Being Human. Here's why — and some things you can do with them that surprised even us.
• 2026-02-22 · What we miss when we talk about "AI Harnesses" — AI Harness Engineering is suddenly in vogue. But does the seemingly innocuous "harness" metaphor come with hidden risks?
• 2026-02-17 · How do you "do" books in an age of AI? — We've just dropped the complete text of "AI and the Art of Being Human" (the Pocket Edition) as a free AI Companion, and want to know how you will use it!
• 2026-02-14 · The AI book I actually carry with me — How a flight home from Portugal turned into the just-released coffee-stained pocket edition of AI and the Art of Being Human
• 2026-02-11 · Could AI bots ever learn to “reprogram” their human creators? — Watching Moltbook unfold has put me in a speculative frame of mind ...
• 2026-02-08 · Beeswax Hallucinations and AI Inventions — I thought I was pretty savvy when it comes to navigating AI hallucinations. I was wrong.
• 2026-01-31 · Lost in the Moltbook Hall of Mirrors — A new "Social Network for AI Agents" is breaking the internet. And things are getting weird ...
• 2026-01-25 · Can modern scholarship escape AI? — I wrote a paper ...
• 2026-01-22 · Think you know AI? Think again! — Anthropic's new AI Constitution profoundly challenges how we think about, develop, and use artificial intelligence, while also opening up potentially transformative possibilities
• 2026-01-17 · I cracked and wrote an academic paper using AI. Here's what I learned ... — I deeply dislike AI-generated academic slop. But I'm curious about how AI can genuinely accelerate legitimate research. So I took the plunge ...
• 2026-01-10 · Is AI a Cognitive Trojan Horse? — Could on-demand, seductively responsive and highly fluent AI models bypass our "epistemic vigilance" mechanisms, and present a novel cognitive risk?
• 2026-01-01 · Five voices worth reading in 2026 — As I did last year, I thought I'd highlight five writers I enjoy reading, along with a recent post from each that grabbed my attention.

2025

• 2025-12-21 · Are we living in a foveated reality? — Video games trick players by only rendering in high detail what's being observed. So do spatial computing headsets. Even our eyes and brain do it. Maybe the universe does as well ...
• 2025-12-14 · Revisiting custom GPTs — the good, the bad, and the ... interesting! — It's been a minute but I thought it time to take a fresh look at OpenAI's custom GPT feature. I found myself both frustrated and surprised!
• 2025-12-07 · Do universities have a future in Trump's plans to accelerate scientific discovery through the use of AI? — The recently announced Genesis Mission sets out to transform how science is done in the US. Yet it's a mission that places national labs—and not universities—in the driving seat.
• 2025-11-30 · Postscript: Letters from the Department of Intellectual Craft — Plausible AI trajectories and their potential implications to academia: a closing reflection on Letters from the Department of Intellectual Craft
• 2025-11-26 · Part 3 of Letters from the Department of Intellectual Craft — Part 3 of a three-part serialization of the short story “Letters from the Department of Intellectual Craft”
• 2025-11-25 · Part 2 of Letters from the Department of Intellectual Craft — Part 2 of a three-part serialization of the short story "Letters from the Department of Intellectual Craft"
• 2025-11-24 · New to the Future of Being Human? Start Here:
• 2025-11-24 · Part 1 of Letters from the Department of Intellectual Craft — Part 1 of a three-part serialization of the short story “Letters from the Department of Intellectual Craft”
• 2025-11-23 · Letters from the Department of Intellectual Craft — What does it mean to be an academic in an age of AI when who you are depends so much on how you use your mind? Over the next few days I'll be serializing a short story that tackles this head-on.
• 2025-11-19 · Parasocial Relationships: Problematic Practice or Public Promise? — This year's Cambridge Dictionary Word of the Year is "parasocial"—spurred on by growing concerns over our love affair with AI chatbots
• 2025-11-16 · Can AI help redesign the technosphere—and so save the planet? — If AI is going to help save the planet, we’re going to have to point it away from the Earth and toward our techno-human selves.
• 2025-11-12 · Is planetary health without AI moribund? — A new report from the Stockholm Resilience Center doesn't go quite that far, but it does underline the importance—as well as the pitfalls—of using AI to accelerate sustainability science
• 2025-11-09 · Should universities be doing more to address the mental health risks of using AI? — Emerging concerns suggests they should
• 2025-10-31 · Haunted Futures — A tech improv Modem Futura special, just for Halloween ...
• 2025-10-26 · AI misuse in student-advisor collaborations. Part 1 — What do you do when your PhD advisor insists on using AI in ways that put you in a difficult position?
• 2025-10-23 · 21 Tools for Thriving with AI — However artificial intelligence is a part of your life, the 21 tools in "AI and the Art of Being Human" provide an essential framework for human-centric decisions
• 2025-10-19 · Resurrecting deceased darlings: The Missing Foreword to "AI and the Art of Being Human" — Often, less is more when writing a book. But occasionally what is cut is still worth reading—including the former foreword to "AI and the Art of Being Human."
• 2025-10-14 · Should you read AI and the Art of Being Human? — After all, what could possibly go wrong as AI gets increasingly good at doing you?
• 2025-10-05 · When ChatGPT turns informant — The largely overlooked privacy risks of using AI apps that not only remember your conversations, but are capable of using these to reveal your deepest secrets to others
• 2025-09-27 · An Academic and a VC Walk into an AI Salon ... — The unexpected collaboration that became "AI and the Art of Being Human"
• 2025-09-21 · A Kindergartener's Guide to AI, Qualia, Affordances, and Embodied Intelligence — Forget bats and black-and-white rooms, one of the best guides to the esoteric world of AI and experiential intelligence is a 2013 book written for kindergarteners
• 2025-09-14 · Heads-up on new AI book — Mark your calendar: AI and the Art of Being Human launching Oct 14
• 2025-09-07 · The hidden risks of using AI to write emails — When is it OK to use AI to craft emails, and when do you risk stepping into a whole lot of unexpected hurt? Intrigued by the question, I brushed off my risk hat and dived in.
• 2025-08-31 · Holding on to our humanity in an age of AI — AIs are becoming startlingly good at emulating what we do. But what happens when they start to influence who we are and how we behave?
• 2025-08-26 · Unpacking Agentic AI in Education — A quick plug for this week's episode of Modem Futura with Punya Mishra, which dives into what agentic AI does and doesn't mean in education, and why this matters.
• 2025-08-24 · Using AI to Assess Student-AI Conversations — Can ChatGPT be used to extract useful learning insights from long and meandering conversations between learners and AI?
• 2025-08-17 · Stop asking students "Show Me Your Prompt!" — As educators continue to grapple with students using AI for assignments, we need to move beyond the idea that showing the original prompt is useful
• 2025-08-10 · The Scared Witless Educator's Guide to Surviving ChatGPT GPT-5 — If you're panicking over how to survive in world where every student has access to one of the most powerful AI's ever made, I have a plan ...
• 2025-08-03 · CodeSignal turned my book into an AI-assisted professional development course — As universities and companies scramble to bring agentic AI to learning, I was intrigued by CodeSignal's approach to using AI in a new course inspired by the book Future Rising
• 2025-07-27 · Spiky surfaces and jagged edges: Moving beyond what's known in an Age of AI — Do we need to move beyond simple models of knowledge creation and discovery as AI becomes increasingly capable?
• 2025-07-23 · America's AI Action Plan: "Build, Baby, Build" — The White House's just-released AI Action Plan prioritizes speed, power, and US AI supremacy, over pretty much everything else. This will likely be good news for some, but not for others.
• 2025-07-20 · Still Human: 61 Inspiring paintings from an upcoming generation — Amidst today's flood of AI-generated art, these paintings by Chinese children speak with a rare clarity about empathy, creativity, and the soul of what it means to be human
• 2025-07-13 · What's Grok 4's "Moral Character"? — With the launch of xAI's Grok 4 – heralded by Elon Musk as "the world's smartest AI" – I was interested to see how it's "moral character" stacked up agains other models
• 2025-07-06 · Motive, Means, and Opportunity: The Growing Risk of AI Manipulation — Two recent studies reveal how frontier AI models may leverage the ability to manipulate users to achieve their goals — if given the access and incentive.
• 2025-06-24 · Here are this year's top ten emerging technologies from the World Economic Forum — Staying true to form, this year's list includes technologies that may not be on your radar but should be – from nanozymes and generative watermarking to treating neurodegenerative disease with GLP-1's
• 2025-06-01 · Vibe coding moral panic — Not a panic about vibe coding, but an idle thought that led down a rabbit hole that turned into an online timeline on tech driven angst through the ages
• 2025-05-25 · Why parasocial communication around complex ideas is important – and why we need more of it — Conveying facts and figures is an important communication strategy – but relationship-based communication and engagement have a unique and often under-appreciated role in empowering audiences at scale
• 2025-05-18 · Exploring AI through cause-and-effect — A new online tool that uses cause-and-effect relationships to explore and better-understand responsible AI development and use
• 2025-05-11 · Designing the technological futures we aspire to — Why transformative technology demands responsible innovation — and the critical questions we need to be asking before it's too late
• 2025-05-06 · What students *really* think about artificial intelligence — My colleague Sean and I sat down with two ASU undergrads for a candid conversation about all things AI. It's a conversation anyone working in higher education will want to hear.
• 2025-05-04 · A new framework for guiding AI agent oversight — As AI agents become more prevalent and powerful, a new paper outlines a framework for better-understanding how to govern and regulate them.
• 2025-04-24 · US and China Vie for AI Leadership in K-12 Education — Two new national plans promise to overhaul classrooms with AI. Here’s how the US and China differ – and overlap
• 2025-04-22 · Beyond the Hero’s Journey: AI, Protopia & the Future of Film — On this week's Model Futura, filmmaker, futurist, and impact storyteller Taryn O'Neill joins is to talk about AI‑powered moviemaking and how the stories we tell now script the futures we get
• 2025-04-20 · Surprised by serendipity — To celebrate the two-year anniversary of The Future of being Human , a new "serendipity" button, a way to continue the conversation using AI, and a roundup of the substack by the numbers
• 2025-04-15 · The Secret Lives of Electric Vehicle Owners — ASU professor and Tech Skeptic Goes Electric author Jamey Wetmore joins Modem Futura to discuss electric vehicle ownership, charging challenges, data privacy, and why informed skepticism matters.
• 2025-04-13 · Ancient wolves, conservation futures, and one of the fastest growing biotech startups in history — Colossal Biosciences has been grabbing headlines with claims of bringing the long-extinct dire wolf back from the dead. But how responsible is the company's vision of "commercial evolution?"
• 2025-04-08 · OpenAI and Studio Ghibli style: Theft or homage? — This week's episode of Modem Futura explores how OpenAI's new image generator is stirring up old questions about art, authorship, innovation, and a whole lot more.
• 2025-04-06 · What does responsible innovation mean in an age of accelerating AI? — The new AI 2027 scenario suggests artificial intelligence may outpace our ability to develop it responsibly. How seriously should we take this?
• 2025-04-01 · When AI Takes the Wheel: Rethinking Education for a Post-Scarcity World — This week's episode of Modem Futura explores the intersection between AI, learning, and education – and gets really speculative as we think about education in a post-scarcity future
• 2025-03-30 · Reimagining learning and education in an age of AI — Reflections and provocations from a keynote given at the 2025 Yidan Prize Conference
• 2025-03-27 · Can agentic AI build your entire online course? — I asked the "general AI agent" Manus to design and create an online course. There were some glitches, but the result shows what advanced AI could be capable of in the very near future
• 2025-03-25 · Tech Trends 2025: Living Intelligence, Quantum Breakthroughs, and Beyond — This week's episode of Modem Futura focuses on Amy Webb's Future Today Strategy Group’s 2025 Tech Trends Report
• 2025-03-22 · When Agentic AI Takes Charge – First impressions of Manus — Having just got my hands on the new general AI agent from Manus I was excited to see what it could do. So I asked it to design, conduct and write up a human subjects research study – with no humans!
• 2025-03-18 · Hype, Hope, and the Human Element in AI and Education — This week's episode of Modem Futura touches on OpenAI's rumored $20k AI tiers, the Ethic of Care in classrooms, and how Dewey’s “four impulses” can reshape teaching and learning
• 2025-03-16 · Rethinking Higher Education in the Age of AI — How embracing playful experimentation can redefine universities in an era of limitless intelligence
• 2025-03-15 · AI in Higher Education: Students need playgrounds, not playpens — AI capabilities are moving so fast, and the implications are so profound, that we restrict the ability of students to learn through curiosity, experimentation, and hands-on experience at our peril.
• 2025-03-11 · Five things we need to know about technological change — This week's episode of Modem Futura revisits Neil Postman's influential 1998 talk about understanding and navigating transformative technologies
• 2025-03-09 · The "hard" concept of care in technology innovation — Does a lack of care in how we develop and use new technologies risk turning us and our creations into "monsters?"
• 2025-03-04 · Photography in the Age of Artificial Intelligence — This week's episode of Modem Futura explores the changing relationship between photographer and photograph as AI transforms the art of image making
• 2025-03-02 · AI and the lure of permissionless innovation — What could possibly go wrong as we prize the guardrails of responsibility off artificial intelligence and other advanced technologies?
• 2025-02-25 · This is NOT a podcast about AI — This week on Modem Futura Sean and I try desperately hard not to talk about AI, and end up chatting about tech, story telling, sci-fi, and the art of doing nothing
• 2025-02-23 · An AI model that can decode and design living organisms — The Arc Institute's new EVO 2 model does for DNA what ChatGPT did for words
• 2025-02-18 · AI: The Medium is the "Massage?" — Marshall McLuhan, The Medium is the Message, and other highlights from this week's episode of Modem Futura
• 2025-02-16 · The Artisanal Intellectual in the Age of AI — How is advanced artificial intelligence forcing a rethink of the value of human intellectual labor?
• 2025-02-11 · AI humility, artisanal intellectuals, and Reid Hoffman's Superagency — Some of the highlights in this week's episode of Modem Futura
• 2025-02-09 · Can AI write your PhD dissertation for you? — I spent four days trying to get OpenAI's new tool Deep Research to research and write a complete dissertation. This is what I discovered.
• 2025-02-04 · Does OpenAI's Deep Research signal the end of human-only scholarship? — Having got my hands on Sam Altman's latest AI offering yesterday, I'm beginning to wonder when research and scholarship that isn't augmented by AI will be seen as an anachronism
• 2025-02-02 · AI turned my class into a song — and I can’t stop listening — One of my student used ChatGPT and Suno to create a musical ode to my Pizza and a Slice of Future class, and it’s awesome!
• 2025-01-30 · AI at a Crossroads: The Unfinished Work of Aligning Technology with Humanity — Where the Vatican and AI Scientists Converge, Collide, and Challenge Us to Think Differently
• 2025-01-28 · The $500 Billion Gamble: Can AI save humanity without breaking it? — OK so I caved and asked DeepSeek to generate the title for this post – it only seemed appropriate given the AI roller coaster we seem to be on at the moment!
• 2025-01-26 · I asked ChatGPT to create three video games – this is what happened — Generative AI is making it easier than ever for people with no prior experience to experiment with writing code. But just how big a deal is the emergence of "conversational coding?"
• 2025-01-21 · Is this the year of agentic AI? — In this week's episode of Modem Future Sean Leahy and I dive into a bunch of AI-related stuff, starting with Sam Altman's start-of-the-year reflections on AGI, AI agents, and "superintelligence"
• 2025-01-19 · WEF: "The global outlook is increasingly fractured" — This year's Annual Risks Report from the World Economic Forum highlights growing global challenges, but concludes technological risks are still under the radar for many
• 2025-01-14 · Are your car's autonomous features dangerously out of calibration? — My co-host Sean Leahy and I are joined by advanced driver-assistance systems expert Brunno Moretti on this week's episode of Modem Futura as we explore all things sensor-related in modern cars
• 2025-01-12 · Frequently Asked Questions on Using ChatGPT in the Classroom — After two years of procrastinating I finally updated a set of FAQs that I compiled for colleagues back in 2023 – in part because I couldn't find anything better out there!
• 2025-01-07 · A conversation with former astronaut Cady Coleman — On this week's episode of Modem Futura, Sean Leahy and I had the opportunity to talk all things space with my good friend and former NASA astronaut Cady Coleman
• 2025-01-07 · Universities need to step up their AGI game — As Sam Altman and others push toward a future where AI changes everything, universities need to decide if they're going to be leaders or bystanders in helping society navigate advanced AI transitions
• 2025-01-05 · Five voices, five pieces — To start the new year I thought I'd highlight five fellow writers I enjoy reading on Substack, and a recent post from each of them that grabbed my attention

2024

• 2024-12-31 · Beyond the Horizon: Space, Technology, and the Human Touch — An end of year retrospective/prospective with Modem Futura hosts Sean Leahy and Andrew Maynard, and guests Caity Roe and Joe O'Rourke
• 2024-12-29 · Someone needs to write these Fantasy Top Ten Tech lists — As end of year Top Ten lists start springing up like mushrooms, I thought I'd get a little meta and write about some of the lists no-one's writing, but should.
• 2024-12-22 · Why Modem Futura is more than just another tech podcast — As we pass our tenth full episode of Modem Futura, I take a look at why we started, what we hope to achieve, and what makes this more than just another tech podcast
• 2024-12-20 · Sora has a bias problem — Sora seems to think all academics are men, and predominantly white men at that. And this is a problem.
• 2024-12-17 · Navigating the challenges and opportunities of technologies that "stop biological time" — A groundbreaking new collection of papers in the Journal of Law, Medicine and Ethics explores the ethical, legal and policy challenges of advanced biopreservation technologies
• 2024-12-15 · Advanced AI is creating challenges for Native American communities – but also opportunities — Three experts explore the complex intersection between Artificial Intelligence and U.S. indigenous communities
• 2024-12-13 · Are educators falling behind the AI curve? — As tech companies release a slew of generative AI updates, there's a growing risk that educational practices and policies are struggling to keep up with new capabilities
• 2024-12-08 · Why Thinking About Tomorrow Still Matters Today — Four years on, Future Rising seems more relevant than ever in a world on the cusp of transformative change
• 2024-12-01 · Geoengineering, early warnings, and a dash of Victorian science — A recent article on geoengineering in the New York Times sent me back to my aerosol roots – and research that dates back to Victorian times
• 2024-11-24 · Artificial intelligence, agency, and the emergence of humans as AI amanuenses — A thought experiment in how human-AI roles and relationships may change in the future
• 2024-11-17 · Navigating the Ethical Dilemmas of Human-Enhancing Brain-Computer Interfaces — An important new essay by Emma Gordon and Anil Seth explores the ethical, legal and scientific implications of BCIs' designed to enhance performance
• 2024-11-12 · Waymo we go! — This week's episode of the Model Futura podcast explore the future of transportation, particularly focusing on driverless cars and the implications of autonomous vehicles
• 2024-11-10 · Is AI poised to suck the soul out of science? — A new study shows that, while using AI in research can increase productivity, it also risks reducing job satisfaction for scientists
• 2024-11-06 · AI in a world of Trump — This week's episode of the Modem Futura podcast on artificial intelligence is more relevant than ever given the results of the US election
• 2024-11-03 · Can AI influence how you feel about someone without you knowing? — A new study suggests that it can
• 2024-10-27 · Are Personal AI Chatbots Becoming Dangerous Agents of Chaos? — The death of 14 year old Sewell Setzer III raises new concerns about the risks of AI chatbots. And it has broader implications to how we approach AI that influences how we think and feel.
• 2024-10-20 · Learning to live with agentic social AI — The better AI models get at simulating human behavior and interactions, the better they're likely to get at leveraging people to achieve specific goals. Are we ready for this?
• 2024-10-13 · Is this how AI will transform the world over the next decade? — Anthropic's CEO Dario Amodei has just published a radical vision of an AI-accelerated future. It's audacious, compelling, and a must-read for anyone working at the intersection of AI and society.
• 2024-10-09 · The world of podcasts about tech, society & the future just got a whole lot more interesting! — OK so we may be blowing our own trumpet a little, but I'm thrilled to announce the launch of "Modem Futura" – a must-listen-to new podcast exploring the intersection of technology and the future
• 2024-10-08 · AI captures this year's Nobel Prize for Physics — AI researchers John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton have just been awarded Nobel Prize in Physics for their pioneering work on artificial intelligence
• 2024-10-06 · The double or nothing bet on AI "fixing the climate" — AI proponents are claiming future artificial intelligence capabilities will solve pretty much everything – including climate change. But only if we massively increase energy consumption to get there.
• 2024-10-02 · As 23andMe faces a uncertain future, who gets to access the DNA data they've collected? — A growing number of tech companies are collecting data that reveals intimate details about their customers. When those companies fail, what happens to those data?
• 2024-09-29 · ChatGPT as Author Part 2: The Conversation — Yesterday I wrote about how ChatGPT surprised me with it's story-writing abilities. But it was the conversation I had with it afterward that blew me away
• 2024-09-28 · ChatGPT as Author Part 1: The Story — Can ChatGPT write a passable novel? A week ago I would have said no way. But an unexpected and serendipitous experiment made me think again.
• 2024-09-25 · Woah, I have some smart colleagues researching AI at ASU! — Arizona State University is known for it's leadership in using generative AI. But what about research into the cutting edge of artificial intelligence? Digging into this, I was impressed.
• 2024-09-22 · Five AI-generated podcast episodes that'll make you think — Google's personal AI assistant NotebookLM can now generate full-on AI podcasts. The results are amazing. But they're also concerning.
• 2024-09-18 · Neuralink's Blindsight brain implant gets one step closer to human trials — The company has just received Breakthrough Device Designation from the FDA for their "Blindsight" brain computer interface technology, fast tracking it's progress toward testing in human subjects
• 2024-09-13 · OpenAI's new "chain of thought" model is designed to reason like a human. How does it cope with a moral dilemma? — OpenAI's new model OpenAI o1, or "Strawberry" as it's been dubbed, does well at problems requiring chain of thought reasoning. But how does this extend to ethical challenges?
• 2024-09-08 · A Journey from the Past to the Edge of Tomorrow
• 2024-09-04 · Succeeding at the YouTube Science Communication Game — The YouTube science communication channel Risk Bites has just hit a major milestone – but is the platform still an effective place for scientists to engage with broader audiences?
• 2024-09-01 · Is ChatGPT's new Voice Mode dangerously persuasive? — OpenAI's research indicates it is not, but things may be less certain than they seem
• 2024-08-28 · Human brain organoid-based AI processors get closer to becoming reality — The company FinalSpark is now offering researchers access to their experimental human brain organoid processors for $500 per month
• 2024-08-25 · Four more ways of thinking about advanced technology transitions — A simple threat/opportunity framework for thinking about approaches to navigating advanced technology transitions
• 2024-08-21 · Chatting with WEF about ChatGPT in the classroom — A short video on generative AI in education from the World Economic Forum
• 2024-08-18 · Four ways of thinking about advanced technology transitions — Can a simple analogy help understand different approaches to navigating technology-driven tipping points and transitions?
• 2024-08-11 · Envisioning a university-based School of Advanced Technology Transitions — While preparing for a keynote on advanced technology transitions this week, I revisited an old concept note exploring how the idea could help shape a school focused on tech, society and the future
• 2024-08-07 · Are humanoid robots really the future? — As companies like Figure and Tesla race to build general purpose humanoid robots, it's still not clear whether they're onto something, or merely caught up in a sci-fi fantasy fever dream.
• 2024-08-04 · 7 key takeaways from Elon Musk's latest conversation with Lex Fridman about the future — Last week Lex Fridman posted a long conversation with Elon Musk as part of a mammoth eight and a half hour podcast. These are seven takeaways that are worth paying attention to.
• 2024-08-01 · Elon Musk's new primary school set to open in Bastrop, Texas this September — The new school, named Ad Astra, will draw on Montessori-style learning, will be STEM-centered, and will emphasize project-based learning.
• 2024-07-30 · Why all undergrads should take at least one course where they watch sci-fi movies in class — Watching complete science fiction movies in class might seem an inefficient use of time. But it can equip students for the future in ways few other approaches can.
• 2024-07-28 · Massive new study reveals new insights into UBI — The OpenResearch Unconditional Cash Study – the largest of its kind in the US – has just released its first round of findings. The results are inconclusive, but insightful nevertheless
• 2024-07-24 · Exogenous Willpower: Are Weight Loss Drugs Reshaping Society? — Guest contributor Sean Dudley explores the opportunities and challenges of emerging weight loss drugs
• 2024-07-21 · Artificial intelligence is conspicuous by its absence in Denis Villeneuve's Dune: Part Two. And this is important — A new review of the intersection between Villeneuve's Dune and AI in the law journal "Jurimetrics"
• 2024-07-13 · AI Choice Engines, Paternalism, and Behavioral Manipulation — Digging into a new commentary by Cass Sunstein focused on using AI to help individuals make informed choices.
• 2024-07-10 · Neuralink update — This afternoon Elon Musk and a team from Neuralink provided an update on their work on advanced brain computer interfaces. Some quick takeaways from me on the event.
• 2024-07-07 · Making space for everyone: A new book from astronaut Cady Coleman — Former NASA astronaut Cady Coleman's new book "Sharing Space: An Astronaut's Guide to Mission, Wonder, and Making Change" is now out, and is well worth reading
• 2024-07-03 · Revisiting "Films from the Future" – Complimentary Copies Available — Revisiting my book Films from the Future, it's more relevant than ever as advanced technologies continue to transform our lives. So I thought I'd make it freely available to anyone who's interested
• 2024-06-30 · Is Conscious AI Possible? — A new paper by Anil Seth argues that consciousness may not be achievable through current approaches to AI, but that the possibility of real or apparently conscious AI still raises important challenges
• 2024-06-25 · These are the Top Ten Emerging Technologies of 2024 — The 2024 list of Top Ten Emerging Technologies has just been published by the World Economic Forum. It includes some that may surprise you.
• 2024-06-23 · A seriously funny look at existential risk with actor Jay Baruchel — Season 2 of of the documentary series We're All Gonna Die (Even Jay Baruchel) is now available in the US – and it draws extensively on expertise from Arizona State University
• 2024-06-20 · Ilya Sutskever's Safe Superintelligence initiative might need a rethink — Ilya Sutskever's new AI venture on safe superintelligence is bold. But it also indicates a deeply naive understanding of safety that may be its undoing
• 2024-06-16 · AI, Ex Machina, and the Juvet Landscape Hotel — How a remote Norwegian hotel brings the themes of Ex Machina to life
• 2024-05-26 · Should tech entrepreneurs be banned from watching sci-Fi movies? — Three brief reflections before I head out for a much needed break
• 2024-05-21 · OpenAI's problem with the movie Her and Scarlett Johansson — OpenAI and Sam Altman were scrambling yesterday amidst allegations that they'd used a Scarlett Johansson sound-alike in ChatGPT. The company's actions raise multiple concerns.
• 2024-05-19 · Future Failing — Encouraging people to think differently about the future is hard
• 2024-05-15 · OpenAI's GPT-4o and the challenges of hyper-anthropomorphism — OpenAI's just-announced upgrade to ChatGPT encourages users to bond emotionally with it. Should we be concerned?
• 2024-05-12 · ChatGPT shaming is a thing – and it shouldn't be — There's a growing tension between early and creative adopters of text based generative AI and those who equate its use with cheating. And when this leads to shaming, it's a problem.
• 2024-05-07 · Supercharging Research Using AI — A new report from the US President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology indicates we are on the cusp of an AI-driven transformation in how we do science
• 2024-05-05 · Is GenAI in education more of a Blackberry or iPhone? — There's been a rush to incorporate generative AI into every aspect of education, from K-12 to university courses. But is the technology mature enough to support the tools that rely on it?
• 2024-05-01 · A Student Perspective on the Apple Vision Pro — What happens when you lend a college student an Apple Vision Pro headset for a couple of weeks? This:
• 2024-04-28 · Does the world need another Future of Humanity Institute? — We still need radical and boundary-transcending research and thinking around the future of humanity in a technologically complex age
• 2024-04-24 · Are we ready to navigate the complex ethics of advanced AI assistants? — An important new paper lays out the importance and complexities of ensuring increasingly advanced AI-based assistants are developed and used responsibly
• 2024-04-21 · Can AI be used to automate social science research? — A new paper on arXiv provocatively asks whether AI can do the same for social science as it's doing for discovery in other areas
• 2024-04-18 · Rethinking Biology – A Conversation with Michael Levin [podcast]
• 2024-04-16 · ASU students flex their creative muscles with ChatGPT Enterprise — Students got to benefit from Arizona State University's collaboration with OpenAI at a recent hackathon as they used ChatGPT Enterprise for the first time. And they smashed it!
• 2024-04-14 · Welcome to the age of swipe and select embryos — Prospective parents now have the option to pay for full-genome sequencing to decide which of their embryos go to term, and which do not
• 2024-04-07 · Futures Past and Present: How a Multigenerational Class Is Changing Perspectives on Technology and Society — This past semester I had nearly as many retirees as undergrad students in my discussion class on tech and the future. And it's been amazing!
• 2024-03-31 · We have a technology problem – and it probably isn't what you think — Technology innovation is often seen as a problem or a solution when it comes to building better futures. But the relationship between tech and the future is far more complex than this.
• 2024-03-27 · Michael Levin and the shifting landscape of biological form and function — Mike Levin's work on the biology of form and function is groundbreaking – and the underlying ideas and implications are transforming our ideas of what it means to be human
• 2024-03-24 · Could OpenAI's Sora be a big deal for elementary school kids? — Despite all the challenges it comes with, AI-generated video could unleash the creativity of young children and provide insights into their inner worlds – if it's developed and used responsibly
• 2024-03-21 · Elon Musk's Neuralink plays "mind games" in more ways than one — Neuralink has released a video of its first patient successfully using an implanted brain computer interface. It's impressive, but there's still a steep hill to climb if the tech is to be successful
• 2024-03-17 · Are we putting our undergrads in playpens when they need playgrounds? — Last week I wrote about what we should be teaching students to prepare them for the future. That led me down a rabbit hole of how we should be teaching them
• 2024-03-15 · Liz Lerman and Jonathon Keats on The Art of Memory and the Act of Being Present [podcast] — A conversation between visionary artist, choreographer and writer Liz Lerman, and experimental philosopher Jonathon Keats
• 2024-03-14 · Jonathon Keats and Andrew Maynard on The Promise and Perils of Longtermism [podcast] — A conversation between experimental philosopher Jonathon Keats and Director of the Arizona State University Future of Being Human initiative Andrew Maynard
• 2024-03-13 · Mark Klett and Jonathon Keats on Time Machines, Millennium Cameras, and Other Philosophical Instruments for Mental Time Travel [podcast] — A conversation between photographer Mark Klett and experimental philosopher and "poet of ideas" Jonathon Keats
• 2024-03-12 · Jonathon Keats and Ron Broglio on Chronodiversity and Biodiversity [podcast] — A conversation between experimental philosopher Jonathon Keats and Director of the Arizona State University Humanities Institute Ron Broglio
• 2024-03-11 · Paul Davies and Sara Walker on Consciousness, Awareness, and Time’s Arrow [podcast] — A conversation between physicist and best-selling author Professor Paul Davies, and theoretical physicist and astrobiologist Professor Sara Walker.
• 2024-03-10 · What should we be teaching students now to prepare them for the future? — Yuval Noah Harari believes we have no idea what to teach young people to prepare for the future. I disagree.
• 2024-03-10 · Chronodiversity, other minds, and the temporal dimensions of consciousness – Five conversations that will stretch your imagination! — Launching a new series of occasional conversations between creative and visionary thinkers
• 2024-03-03 · In Villeneuve's Dune: Part Two, AI is nowhere ... and everywhere — Artificial Intelligence is notable by it's absence in the second of Villeneuve's Dune epics. And that is important.
• 2024-02-25 · It's Been a Rollercoaster of a Week in AI — From a ChatGPT meltdown and eye-popping AI-generated videos, to chip-manufacturer NVIDIA's market value going through the roof, AI's hardly been out of the spotlight this past few days
• 2024-02-18 · Setting fire to self-driving cars won't help build a better future — The torching of a Waymo driverless car in San Francisco last week says as much about us as it does about the technology that was destroyed
• 2024-02-11 · One week on with the Apple Vision Pro — Now I've had a few days with Apple's Vision Pro headset, some thoughts on work and productivity, immersive experiences, learning and education, and entertainment!
• 2024-02-05 · Is the Apple Vision Pro a Social and Behavioral Game Changer? — My first look at Apple's new "computer for your face" and how it might (or might not) change our lives
• 2024-01-30 · First In-Human Trial of Elon Musk's Brain Computer Interface Begins — Neuralink is beginning human trials of its technology to restore autonomy in people who have quadriplegia – but the company's vision is to augment otherwise healthy individuals in the future
• 2024-01-28 · The Future of Being Human: A Conversation with Viktoria Modesta — Join us for a wide ranging conversation on art, performance, imagination, augmentation, and what it might mean to be human in a technologically advanced world with bionic pop artist Viktoria Modesta
• 2024-01-21 · How can stories unlock pathways to positive futures? — In their new short film The Assignment, screenwriters and producers Tamara Krinsky and Taryn O’Neill open a window into the power of stories to change our relationship with the future
• 2024-01-18 · ASU announces a unique collaboration with OpenAI on using ChatGPT in education and research — Arizona State University have just announced a unique collaboration with OpenAI to explore, extend, and leverage the use of ChatGPT in higher education and academic research
• 2024-01-17 · Unpacking AI in the 2024 World Economic Forum Global Risk Report — Artificial intelligence features prominently in WEF's 19th Global Risk Report, indicating growing concerns around the technology's potential to disrupt social and economic systems
• 2024-01-14 · WEF Global Technology Risk Trends: Looking Back Over 18 Years — The World Economic Forum has been analyzing global technology risks since 2006 — this is how the landscape has changed over nearly two decades of analysis
• 2024-01-07 · The Future of Being Human is Analog — A new installation at Arizona State University is using old tech to get people thinking about new tech and the future of being human
• 2024-01-01 · The Future of Being Human in 2024 — As we usher in the new year, it's never been more important to understand how emerging technologies have the potential to transform what it means to be human

2023

• 2023-12-22 · Governing AI for Humanity: A Compelling Roadmap from the United Nations — The recently convened UN High-Level Advisory Body on AI has just released its first interim report. It provides a comprehensive vision for ensuring AI benefits humanity
• 2023-12-20 · Does the key to AI superalignment lie in the science of cooperation? — In biology, cooperative alignment within hierarchical systems is essential to survival. Are there lessons here for human flourishing an an age of artificial intelligence?
• 2023-12-15 · Pope Francis: Artificial intelligence ought to serve our best human potential and our highest aspirations, not compete with them — In his upcoming World Day of Peace message, Pope Francis lays out a manifesto for socially responsible and beneficial artificial intelligence
• 2023-12-13 · AIs using lab-grown "brains" are getting closer — A new paper in the journal Nature Electronics demonstrates that brain organoids can be used as simple organic neural nets, increasing the likelihood of organic AI's in the future
• 2023-12-06 · An audio guide to emerging tech and the future — Every episode of The Moviegoer's Guide to the Future podcast — in chronological order
• 2023-12-03 · Are physical 3D artificial brains the next step in AI? — Data and algorithm based architectures have led to massive leaps in AI. But what if the next step in AI is a revolution in the substrates these run on?
• 2023-12-01 · What happens when AI and cooperation science collide? — Register now for a boundary-pushing conversation, live and online, between AI expert Professor Mark Daley and cooperation scientist Professor Athena Aktipis
• 2023-11-29 · The Year that Generative AI Changed the World — 12 months on from its release, the post-ChatGPT world is very different from what came before it. But we still have a lot to learn about building a positive AI future
• 2023-11-26 · Why everything you've ever heard about AI risk is wrong — And why this is OK — as long as we dial down egos, ramp up humility, and collaborate more effectively across disciplines and areas of expertise
• 2023-11-21 · Could OpenAI have benefitted from this tool for navigating complex risks? — The Risk Innovation Planner was designed to guide organizations navigate tough decisions in the face of complex and often unexpected risks. Could it have helped OpenAI?
• 2023-11-18 · What could Sam Altman's departure from OpenAI mean for societally beneficial AI? — While this is still a breaking story and speculation is rife, the sacking of Altman as OpenAI's CEO could have far-reaching consequences for AI and it's societal impacts
• 2023-11-15 · Navigating “orphan risks” has never been more important for tech companies — especially around AI — Technology companies need to get smarter in how they approach social, ethical and governance risks that have a habit of getting in the way of good ideas
• 2023-11-11 · A first look at OpenAI's new customizable versions of ChatGPT — OpenAI launched GPTs this past week — user-tailored versions of ChatGPT that can be shared with others. The new feature's impressive, but still has some way to go
• 2023-11-09 · Waymo safety study shows not all self-driving cars are created equal — A new joint study between Waymo and Swiss Re indicates their cars are safer than human drivers when operating fully autonomously
• 2023-11-08 · Is deep and meaningful human-AI cooperation possible? — A conversation between Athena Aktipis, Paul Rainey, and Andrew Maynard, on the potential, pros, and pitfalls of human-AI symbiosis.
• 2023-11-06 · An IPCC For AI Is A Failure Mode — Brad Allenby takes a critical look at why an IPCC approach to safe AI will not work, and what is needed instead
• 2023-11-05 · Don't Panic: Elon Musk launches a new AI based on the Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Galaxy — While there appears to be some serious compute under the hood of xAI's new generative AI engine "Grok", the platform is anything but serious in its implementation
• 2023-10-30 · Time-specific actions in the White House AI executive order — The White House Executive Order on the Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence contains a number of time-specific actions. Here's a summary of them
• 2023-10-30 · White House goes all in on responsible innovation and artificial intelligence — A new executive order from the Biden administration sets out to ensure safe, secure, and trustworthy AI -- but what does this mean for institutions aspiring to be at the cutting edge of AI innovation?
• 2023-10-29 · Category Confusion Complicates Efforts to Regulate AI — Brad Allenby considers how effective regulation of AI will critically depend on avoiding conflation of very different levels of functionality.
• 2023-10-27 · Exploring the cutting edge of AI and consciousness — A conversation with Western's Chief AI Officer Mark Daley and McGill scientist and AI/neuroscience expert Blake Richards
• 2023-10-25 · $10 million for AI safety research — The recently-established Frontier Models Forum has just announced a new $10 million AI Safety Fund — but will the projects it supports be as radical as the technological breakthroughs they address?
• 2023-10-24 · Flattening the learning distribution curve using ChatGPT — Could innovative uses of generative AI transform how we teach to the edges of the learning distribution curve?
• 2023-10-20 · Do AI’s dream of electric people? — A wide ranging live-streamed discussion on AI and consciousness with leading experts Mark Daley and Blake Richards
• 2023-10-19 · Marc Andreessen: Ditch sustainability and technology ethics if you want a better future — Venture Capitalist Marc Andreessen takes the gloves off in his new Techno-Optimist's Manifesto
• 2023-10-12 · Recommended listening: The Rise of AI on the Zombified podcast — Longform conversation at the edge of science and technology that will mess with your brains -- in the best possible way
• 2023-10-08 · A guide to responsible innovation like no other ... — How do you help people think about emerging technologies and responsible innovation when the landscape's messy, complex, and rarely black and white?
• 2023-10-06 · Looking to the Future: The Moviegoer's Guide to the Future Episode 14 [podcast] — “Don’t panic.” — The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
• 2023-10-05 · How the 2023 Nobel Prize for Chemistry Captures the Transformative Promise of Nanotechnology — Today's Nobel Prize for Chemistry goes to a trio of scientists for their pioneering work on quantum dots -- a foundational pillar of modern nanotechnology
• 2023-10-02 · Responsible AI: Lessons from Nanotechnology — 20 years ago we were learning how to navigate the risks and benefits of nanotechnology. Two decades on, are we applying those hard-won lessons effectively to artificial intelligence?
• 2023-09-29 · Living By More Than Science Alone and the movie Contact. The Moviegoer's Guide to the Future Episode 13 [podcast] — “...okay to go...” ―Ellie Arroway
• 2023-09-28 · The new AI movie The Creator is a must-see for anyone grappling with what it might mean to be human in an AI future — While rooted in a deeply speculative alternative reality, Gareth Edwards' sci-fi tour de force still packs a punch at a time when advanced artificial intelligence is in the spotlight
• 2023-09-25 · Building a better future's tough when you don't know where you're going — We need to develop a better understanding of advanced technology transitions if we're to realize the social and economic benefits of transformative tech like AI
• 2023-09-22 · Riding the Wave of Climate Change and the movie The Day After Momorrow. The Moviegoer's Guide to the Future Episode 12 [podcast] — “We were wrong.”—Vice President Becker
• 2023-09-20 · What do college students really think about ChatGPT? — We urgently need to talk with college students about how they are thinking about and using ChatGPT and generative AI more broadly
• 2023-09-18 · Will AI transform how we learn in the future? — Join us for the first in a new series of not-to-be-missed informal live streamed conversations from the ASU Future of Being Human initiative
• 2023-09-15 · Weaponizing the Genome and the movie Inferno. The Moviegoer's Guide to the Future Episode 11 [podcast] — “If a plague exists, do you know how many governments would want it and what they’d do to get it?” — Sienna Brooks
• 2023-09-11 · It's time to get serious about artificial intelligence and the UN Sustainable Development Goals — AI has the potential to accelerate progress toward achieving the SDGs, or to throw a wrench in the works. Either way, it cannot be ignored
• 2023-09-10 · Can Large Language Models Reason?
• 2023-09-08 · Living in a Material World and the movie The Man in the White Suit. The Moviegoer's Guide to the Future Episode 10 [podcast] — “Why can’t you scientists leave things alone? What about my bit of washing, when there’s no washing to do?”—Mrs. Watson
• 2023-09-04 · Why public engagement is so important for advanced science and technology — The US President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology call out the importance of effective engagement for a thriving society
• 2023-09-01 · Welcome to the Singularity and the movie Transcendence. The Moviegoer's Guide to the Future Episode 9 [podcast] — “You know what the computer did when he first turned it on? It screamed.” — Bree Evans
• 2023-08-29 · ChatGPT Enterprise could be a game changer for universities — The new enterprise version of ChatGPT addresses security, privacy and accessibility issues that could lead to transformative uses in student learning and research
• 2023-08-28 · Dear Mr. Musk, Can I Have My Book Back Please? — Two years ago my students sent the team developing the Tesla Bot a letter, together with a bunch of books they thought they'd find useful. They're still waiting for a reply
• 2023-08-25 · AI and the Art of Manipulation and the movie Ex Machina. The Moviegoer's Guide to the Future Episode 8 [podcast] — “One day the AIs are going to look back on us the same way we look at fossil skeletons on the plains of Africa. An upright ape living in dust with crude language and tools, all set for extinction.”
• 2023-08-23 · Could we build conscious AIs in the near future? Quite possibly — A new paper examines what it might take to create artificial intelligence that is conscious, and concludes that this could be possible with existing technologies.
• 2023-08-21 · The incomparable messiness of the provenance of ideas — Connecting influences to ideas isn't always easy — and this has just got harder with the growth of generative AI
• 2023-08-18 · Being Human in an Augmented Future and the movie Ghost in the Shell. The Moviegoer's Guide to the Future Episode 7 [podcast] — “As an autonomous life-form, I request political asylum.” —Puppet Master
• 2023-08-16 · Riding the AI Tiger — Managing AI as part of a complex adaptive system will need far more imagination and creativity than we're currently demonstrating if we're to succeed
• 2023-08-14 · If you're obsessed with ChatGPT's accuracy, you're missing the point — Having just finished teaching one of the country's first undergraduate courses on using ChatGPT, I'm more excited than ever by how the tool stimulates creative and critical thinking
• 2023-08-11 · Social Inequity in an Age of Technological Extremes and the movie Elysium. The Moviegoer's Guide to the Future Episode 6 [podcast] — “They are armed, and I’d like them dead.”―Carlisle
• 2023-08-08 · Thinking differently about AI and risk — Long before ChatGPT I gave a talk on AI and risk. It turns out that it was more prescient than I ever anticipated!
• 2023-08-04 · Pharmaceutically-enhanced intelligence and the movie Limitless. The Moviegoer's Guide to the Future Episode 5 [podcast] — “I don’t have delusions of grandeur, I have an actual recipe for grandeur.” — Eddie Morra
• 2023-08-02 · Fifteen questions every college professor should be asking about ChatGPT and other generative AI — As the new academic year starts, generative AI will be a game changer in the classroom. Here are fifteen questions educators should be asking as they gear up to face the coming wave
• 2023-07-31 · Artificial intelligence themes, narratives, and the future of being human — An admittedly idiosyncratic "map" of themes and narratives associated with the roots, rise, opportunities, and challenges, of artificial intelligence and the future of being human
• 2023-07-29 · The unimagined preposterousness of counterfeit people
• 2023-07-28 · Predicting Criminal Intent and the movie Minority Report. The Moviegoer's Guide to the Future, Episode 4 [podcast] — “If there’s a flaw, it’s human—it always is.” — Danny Witwer
• 2023-07-27 · ASU allows ChatGPT to be used in law school applications — Allowing generative AI's use in college applications could be a game changer in leveling the playing field for getting into programs
• 2023-07-25 · Oppenheimer is as relevant to the future of AI as it is nuclear weapons — Watching Oppenheimer, it struck me afresh how powerful movies can be in opening up discussions around ensuring the beneficial and responsible development of transformative new technologies
• 2023-07-21 · A Cautionary Tale of Human Cloning and the movie Never Let Me Go. The Moviegoer's Guide to the Future, Episode 3 [podcast] — “Who’d make up stories as horrible as that?” — Ruth
• 2023-07-19 · Will Elon Musk's "Maximally Curious" AI really turn out to be safe? — Musk's new company x.AI aims to create an artificial general intelligence based on curiosity and truth seeking. What could possibly go wrong?
• 2023-07-16 · ChatGPT Created My Course – Now It’s Teaching It! — The more hands-on experience I have working with ChatGPT with students, the more I realize how much of a game changer AI is in education
• 2023-07-14 · The Rise of Resurrection Biology and the movie Jurassic Park. The Moviegoer's Guide to the Future, Episode 2 [podcast] — “God help us, we’re in the hands of engineers!” — Dr. Ian Malcolm
• 2023-07-12 · Regulating Frontier AI: To Open Source or Not? — Two important new papers grapple with governing emerging and increasingly powerful "frontier AI" models
• 2023-07-10 · What does EU Artificial Intelligence regulation mean for AI in education? — A look at how the EU AI Act potentially affects AI's use in educational settings
• 2023-07-08 · Jumpstarting AI Governance
• 2023-07-07 · In The Beginning. The Moviegoer's Guide to the Future Episode 1 [podcast] — “I’m sorry Dave, I’m afraid I can’t do that.” — HAL
• 2023-07-03 · A new podcast on tech, society, and sci-fi movies — Based on the book Films from the Future, the podcast explores technology and society through the lens of 12 films
• 2023-06-26 · WEF Top Ten Emerging Technologies of 2023 focus on AI, health, and sustainability — This year's top ten emerging technologies report from the World Economic Forum spans generative AI and wearable plant sensors to AI-facilitated healthcare and sustainable computing
• 2023-06-16 · Resources and exercises for developing and honing ChatGPT prompt skills — These resources were developed for ASU's course on prompt engineering and are shared here for anyone to use.
• 2023-06-05 · Recommended reading and listening for a summer interlude — A couple of books, a podcast, and a playlist, to fill the gap while I'm away in June
• 2023-05-31 · Why the recent statement on the risk of extinction from AI is important, and why I didn't sign it — A new statement from the Center for AI Safety claims the extinction risk presented by AI should be a global priority. I argue that potential catastrophic risks should be a higher priority
• 2023-05-30 · Is biological computing the future of AI? — A recent paper advocates for a new field of "organoid intelligence" based on interconnected and interfaced brain organoids. It could be a game-changer for AI but it's also fraught with challenges
• 2023-05-25 · Leading AI expert says we should we be acting now to avoid future risks of "rogue AIs" — is he right? — In a new blog post, Yoshua Bengio lays out his rationale for why we should be paying a lot more attention to the existential risks presented by future artificial intelligence
• 2023-05-22 · Can large language models be used for predictive policing? And if so, should we be worried? — Large language models and interfaces like ChatGPT can predict how a person might respond to a question with uncanny accuracy. Can they also predict what people might do?
• 2023-05-17 · Some thoughts on yesterday's historic Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on oversight of AI
• 2023-05-15 · Respectfully Erik Schmidt, industry can't get AI governance right on its own!
• 2023-05-12 · Unraveling the Luddite Narrative
• 2023-05-09 · This is not your "traditional" prompt engineering! — Even though the ChatGPT is just a few months old, it's already shaking up what it means to "prompt engineer."
• 2023-05-05 · US White House Embraces Responsible Innovation as Society Faces an AI Tsunami — Today's fact-sheet from the Biden-Harris administration is the clearest indication yet that the US is beginning to understand the societal and economic benefits of responsible innovation
• 2023-05-04 · Tipping Points and Broken Symmetries — It's tempting to think we can predict the future from the past--especially with advanced technology transitions. But as a simple 1980's demonstration illustrates, this isn't always possible.
• 2023-05-02 · Catalyzing transformative conversations about the future ... with pizza? — There's something inspiring about talking with undergraduates about the future — especially when there's pizza involved.
• 2023-04-26 · In Bill Joy's "Why The Future Doesn't Need us" AI is nowhere, and everywhere — 23 years ago, the Sun Microsystems co-founder raised serious concerns about out-of-control technology innovation. As we grapple with the latest wave of AI, it's time to revisit his article.
• 2023-04-24 · Gettin' AI Reet in T'Schools: Na's t'Time — As universities race to make most o' ChatGPT an' them LLMs, they can't let responsible an' ethical AI slip through t'cracks
• 2023-04-24 · A short video primer on AI risks — Back in 2018 I produced a short primer on ten potential risks of AI for the YouTube channel Risk Bites. With the advent of ChatGPT and other AI bots I thought it was worth a revisit/update
• 2023-04-20 · Working with students to develop professional ChatGPT skills — We're launching a basic course on prompt engineering with ChatGPT ASU — it may be our first ChatGPT-focused course
• 2023-04-18 · Universities need to be investing in responsible AI now more than ever — As universities scramble to take advantage of ChatGPT and other LLMs, they cannot afford to take their eye off the ball of responsible and ethical AI
• 2023-04-16 · AI and the Art of Manipulation — Given how all over the place conversations are on safe, responsible and beneficial AI development at the moment, I thought it worth posting this chapter from the 2018 book Films from the Future
• 2023-04-14 · Did Chinese scientists gene edit tardigrade DNA into human stem cells? — A recent article claims Chinese military scientists increased the radiation tolerance of human cells by inserting tardigrade DNA -- did this really happen?
• 2023-04-12 · Navigating Advanced Technology Transitions — We need new thinking, research, ideas, and strategies, for ensuring advanced technologies are harnessed to ensure a better future for as many people as possible. And we need them fast!
• 2023-04-10 · As AI goes to Washington, what's being missed? — Lawmakers are scrambling to make sense of the pace at which AI is developing — but are they asking the right questions and talking to the right people?
• 2023-04-07 · CIFAR launches bold new lines of inquiry on the future of being human — The Canadian Institute for Advanced Research has just announced the the results of its third Call for Ideas -- and they all address the future of being human
• 2023-04-05 · Can ChatGPT adversely impact mental health? — The intimacy and influence of conversations with ChatGPT and other AI chatbots may raise novel mental health challenges -- are we prepared?
• 2023-04-04 · What are the alternatives to calling for a pause on giant AI experiments? — The next generation of large language models beyond GPT-4 may present unique and unprecedented risks to society — but is temporarily halting their development the right way to go?
• 2023-04-04 · Welcome to The Future of Being Human! — A newsletter/blog/column/podcast (possibly) exploring the intersection of emerging technologies and society through the lens of what it might mean to be human in a technologically complex future
• 2023-03-29 · Maximizing Value in the Evolving Landscape of Tenured/Tenure Track Faculty — Exploring Innovative Approaches to Evaluating and Supporting Faculty in Research Universities using ChatGPT
• 2023-01-31 · Can ChatGPT take the pain out of annual academic reviews? — I find writing about myself and my achievements for my annual academic review a miserable process. So I turned to ChatGPT …

2022

• 2022-12-13 · Five Movies About AI That Will Make You Cry — A short lineup of films that remind us that intelligent machines don’t aways have to be bad for the future of being human
• 2022-12-08 · I asked Open AI’s ChatGPT about responsible innovation. This is what I got — The just-released conversational chatbot has an impressive ability to convey complex concepts in understandable language
• 2022-09-16 · 56 Stunning AI-Generated Images Inspired By The Future of Being Human — All these images were generated by Midjourney using a single prompt. And they are jaw dropping
• 2022-06-13 · Jurassic Park: Dominion may fall short on the science, but it’s social commentary is worth heeding — The latest Jurassic World movie is a timely reminder that great scientific power comes with great social responsibility
• 2022-02-12 · Scarlett Johansson’s Amazon Alexa Super Bowl Ad May Be Fun, But It Also Raises Serious Questions — Despite Scarlett Johansson and Colin Jost’s fun take on a mind-reading Alexa future, there are serious concerns here
• 2022-02-10 · Are we asking the right standards questions about advanced materials? — As we consider standards for advanced materials, are we looking at that are based on terms of art, or terms of science?

2021

• 2021-10-05 · Butterflies, Chaos Theory, Jurassic Park, and a Nobel Prize in Physics — How are a 20th century meteorologist, a 1993 Stephen Spielberg movie, and the 2021 Nobel Prize in Physics connected?
• 2021-09-07 · Should we be worried about Elon Musk’s Tesla Bot? — The newly-announced Tesla robot looks like something out of a dystopian sci-fi movie. But that’s the least of our problems.
• 2021-08-03 · We need to get more innovative in how we navigate the potential risks and benefits of artificial intelligence — Are we becoming so obsessed with the rights and wrongs of AI that we’re taking our eye off potential risks?
• 2021-06-09 · An Introduction to Thinking Differently about Technology, Society & The Future — There’s growing awareness that business as usual with tech innovation is heading for a train-wreck — but how do we think differently about tech & the future?
• 2021-05-28 · What exactly is the future, and how are we connected to it? — What exactly is the future, how are we connected to it, and what is our responsibility to it?
• 2021-04-09 · Bounded Infinities, Quantum Tunneling, and the Future of Education — Escaping the constraints of conventional thinking in higher education
• 2021-03-28 · How safe are graphene-based face masks? — There are warnings of potential “early pulmonary toxicity” associated with face masks using graphene
• 2021-02-25 · How our mastery of biological, physical and cyber “base code” is transforming how we think about… — As we master the “base code” that underpins the biological, physical and cyber worlds we inhabit, how do we use this power responsibly?
• 2021-02-04 · The Future You — A futurist’s guide to building the future you hope for (review)
• 2021-01-15 · Can watching sci-fi movies lead to more responsible and ethical innovation? — For the past three years, I’ve taught responsible and ethical innovation through watching science fiction movies in class.

2020

• 2020-12-15 · Why Trustworthiness Matters in Building Global Futures — No matter how compelling our technologies, they are only as good as the trust people have in the organizations that develop & govern them
• 2020-12-10 · We need to rethink our relationship with the future — We’ve never had more ability to build a better future, or a greater capacity to blow it!
• 2020-11-12 · Is Artificial Intelligence Going to Kill Us All? — It’s tempting to go all existential over the risks of artificial intelligence, but more nuance is needed if we’re to get things right
• 2020-11-05 · Why Risk Innovation is critical to the futures we aspire to — If there’s one thing we cannot escape as we look to the future, it’s risk.
• 2020-10-30 · Eight things about Future Rising that may surprise you! — Background trivia on Future Rising: A Journey from the Past to the Edge of Tomorrow
• 2020-10-22 · What if the Future was an Object? — How the idea of thinking about the future as an object inspired the book Future Rising
• 2020-10-15 · The ethics of advanced brain machine interfaces — and why they matter — A Silicon-Valley entrepreneurial approach to brain machine interfaces comes with deep ethical challenges
• 2020-10-04 · The Future of Predictive Policing? — Big data and machine learning are increasingly being used to “predict” crime hotspots and potential offenders. But how far should we go …
• 2020-09-26 · The Seductive Slippery Slope of using Science to Predict “Bad” Behavior — Incredibly, there are still researchers who believe we can use advanced technologies to predict “good” and “bad” behavior
• 2020-08-28 · Navigating the Complex World of Advanced Brain-Machine Interfaces — Does Elon Musk’s Neuralink have what it takes to succeed in the exceptionally complex risk landscape of human augmentation?
• 2020-07-30 · Life on Mars, Astrobiology, and Thinking Differently about Risk — As the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover sets out on its seven month voyage to Mars in the hope of finding signs of life, it’s worth taking a…
• 2020-01-01 · The “Science” of Predicting Bad Behavior — How AI and behavior studies are reopening the fraught “science” of behavior prediction and pre-emptive action.

2019

• 2019-11-19 · The Trouble with Connectedness as a Force for Good — How connectedness both dramatically supports and deeply undermines resilience. By Bas Boorsma and Andrew Maynard
• 2019-11-01 · The Many Ways Elon Musk’s Neuralink Could Go Wrong — The brain-machine interface will require innovative ways of thinking about risk. We mapped it out.
• 2019-10-10 · The science and ethics of cloning — As Gemini Man hits movie theaters, the technology and ethics of human cloning is once again center stage
• 2019-09-04 · How to Ensure Our Digital Legacy Isn’t Lost to the Future — We think the internet records everything, but the problem of ‘bit rot’ means all our emails and more could disappear in the decades ahead
• 2019-08-13 · Innovating responsibly in a culture of entrepreneurship — Most entrepreneurs want to make the world a better place — but how can they do this responsibly, amidst the pressures to succeed?
• 2019-07-23 · Neuralink’s Technology Is Impressive. Is It Ethical? — Elon Musk’s audacious vision of a smartphone-controlled brain-machine interface comes with potential risks.
• 2019-06-12 · What can sci-fi movies teach us about technology ethics? — Featuring Jurassic Park, Minority Report, Limitless, Ghost in the Shell, Ex Machina, The Day After Tomorrow, Contact, and more …
• 2019-04-26 · Avengers: Endgame — a Cautionary Tale of Technological Innovation — Underneath the spectacle, Avengers: Endgame challenges us to think about the use of powerful technologies in the real world
• 2019-04-15 · Ethics Boards Won’t Save Big Tech — Tech companies need more than advisory boards if they want to create ethical products and services
• 2019-03-31 · Design Principles for De-Marginalizing the Future — How do we ensure that our collective future is conceived and constructed by all of us, and not just the powerful?
• 2019-03-07 · Sci-fi movies are the secret weapon that could help Silicon Valley grow up — As tech companies grapple with what it means to be ethical and responsible, insights may come from an unexpected source
• 2019-03-06 · Navigating the risks and benefits of new technologies — We shouldn’t panic about the risks of new technologies, but neither should we be complacent
• 2019-03-05 · Should we be treating algorithms the same way we treat hazardous chemicals? — Algorithms have the potential to cause injury illness and death. Yet we’ve hardly scratched the surface of how to assess and manage the…
• 2019-03-01 · The Forgotten Risk of Fitness Trackers — Fitbit launched a new personal fitness tracker for employees and members of health care plans — what are the downsides?
• 2019-02-24 · Science and Technology go to the Oscars — All the science, technology, and sci-fi related movies at the 2019 Oscars
• 2019-02-08 · How to give the best scientific presentation ever — NOT! — Twelve Steps to Academic Powerpoint Imperfection
• 2019-01-16 · Tech businesses need to think differently about ethical and responsible innovation — In today’s complex social and technological world, good intentions alone are rarely enough if businesses are to survive and thrive

2018

• 2018-12-15 · If Elon Musk is a Luddite, count me in! — On December 21, the company SpaceX made history by successfully launching a rocket and returning it to a safe landing on Earth. It’s also…
• 2018-12-13 · It’s time for tech startups and their funders to take “orphan risks” seriously — Technology companies need to stop ignoring hard-to-grapple-with risks that could potentially blindside them in the future
• 2018-11-25 · Twenty Trends in Science and Technology from Twelve Science Fiction Movies — The new book Films from the Future explores a number of emerging areas of science and technology.
• 2018-11-15 · Can “bad” sci-fi movies help us get future technologies right? — Science fiction movies can provide startling insights into responsible and ethical technology innovation
• 2018-11-08 · Films from the Future: The Last Chapter — From the closing chapter of the new book “Films from the Future: The Technology and Morality of Sci-Fi Movies”
• 2018-11-01 · Contact: Occam’s Razor and Films from the Future — A short excerpt from Films from the Future: The Technology and Morality of Sci-Fi Movies
• 2018-10-25 · Environmental Resilience, and The day After Tomorrow — A short excerpt from the book Films from the Future: The Technology and Morality of Sci-Fi Movies
• 2018-10-18 · The Honest Broker meets Dan Brown’s Inferno — The unlikely connections between Dan Brown’s film Inferno, gain of function research, immoral logic, and science-advocacy. From Films from…
• 2018-10-12 · Q&A with author Andrew Maynard on Films from the Future: The Technology and Morality of Sci-Fi… — Q&A on the new book “Films from the Future: The Technology and Morality of Sci-Fi Movies”
• 2018-10-11 · A Nano-Perspective on the 1951 Film The Man in the White Suit — A short except from the book“Films from the Future: The Technology and Morality of Sci-Fi Movies”
• 2018-10-08 · Enter the Neo-Luddites: Transcendence, The Singularity, and Technological Resistance — On January 15, 1813, fourteen “Luddites” were hanged outside York Castle in England for crimes associated with technological activism.
• 2018-10-04 · Making Sense of Superintelligence — An excerpt from Chapter Eight of “Films from the Future: The Technology and Morality of Sci-Fi Movies”
• 2018-09-27 · What can we learn from the film Ghost in the Shell about human augmentation and the future? — A short excerpt from chapter seven of Films from the Future: The Technology and Morality of Sci-Fi-Movies
• 2018-09-19 · Social inequity in an age of technological extremes: Lessons from the movie Elysium — A short excerpt from chapter six of the book “Films from the Future: The Technology and Morality of Sci-Fi-Movies”
• 2018-09-13 · Limitless: Pharmaceutically-Enhanced Intelligence — A short excerpt from chapter five of Films from the Future: The Technology and Morality of Sci-Fi Movies
• 2018-09-10 · Minority Report: Predicting Criminal Intent — A short excerpt from chapter four of Films from the Future: The Technology and Morality of Sci-Fi Movies
• 2018-09-06 · Never Let Me Go: A Cautionary Tale of Human Cloning — From Chapter Three of Films from the Future: The Technology and Morality of Sci-Fi Movies
• 2018-09-03 · Tech Companies Need a Social Risk Reboot — Tech companies are facing a growing tsunami of social and ethical risks, and it’s one that they’re desperately ill-prepared to face. Yet…
• 2018-08-26 · Jurassic Park: The Rise of Resurrection Biology — From Chapter Two of Films from the Future: The Technology and Morality of Sci-Fi Movies
• 2018-08-26 · In the Beginning… from Films from the Future — From Chapter One of Films from the Future: The Technology and Morality of Sci-Fi Movies
• 2018-08-22 · Second-guessing consumer views on products using nanotechnology — This month’s copy of the journal Nature Nanotechnology has a commentary in it by myself and colleague Justin Kidd, where we ask whether…
• 2018-05-12 · 10 potential risks of artificial intelligence. — Potential risks of artificial intelligence we should probably be thinking about now (video)
• 2018-02-21 · The BS and the science of nanotechnology — Just what is nanotech, and where does the BS end and the science begin?

2017

• 2017-04-10 · Dear Elon Musk: Your dazzling Mars plan overlooks some big nontechnical hurdles — Musk and his company SpaceX want to colonize Mars, fast. But between here and success, SpaceX will need to traverse a tough risk landscape

2016

• 2016-04-01 · Will driving your own car become the socially unacceptable public health risk smoking is today? — In 2014, over 32,000 people were killed in car crashes in the U.S. With figures like this, should people be allowed to drive?
• 2016-03-31 · Considering ethics now before radically new brain technologies get away from us — Imagine infusing thousands of wireless devices into your brain, and using them to both monitor its activity and directly influence its…
• 2016-03-12 · It’ll take more than tech for Elon Musk to pull off audacious new Tesla master plan — Elon Musk — CEO of Tesla Motors — has just revealed the second part of his master plan for the company. And it’s a doozy. Not content with…
• 2016-03-02 · How risky are the World Economic Forum’s top 10 emerging technologies for 2016? — Take an advanced technology. Add a twist of fantasy. Stir well, and watch the action unfold.
• 2016-02-01 · We don’t talk much about nanotechnology risks anymore, but that doesn’t mean they’re gone — Back in 2008, carbon nanotubes — exceptionally fine tubes made up of carbon atoms — were making headlines. A new study from the U.K. had…
• 2016-01-31 · Public universities must do more: the public needs our help and expertise — The water crisis in Flint, Michigan, has been in the national headlines for months, culminating in its central role at a recent debate in…
• 2016-01-20 · Three ways synthetic biology could annihilate Zika and other mosquito-borne diseases — In just a few short weeks, Zika has shot from being an obscure infection to a headline-hitting public health disaster. The virus is…
• 2016-01-12 · Can citizen science empower disenfranchised communities? — Early in 2015, a group calling itself the Nappy Science Gang hit the parenting scene in the U.K. It was made up of moms and dads who used…
• 2016-01-11 · The fourth industrial revolution: what does WEF’s Klaus Schwab leave out? — In April 2000, Bill Joy famously wrote in Wired Magazine:
• 2016-01-11 · Thinking innovatively about the risks of tech innovation — If you’ve been following this month’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES), you’ll know with absolute certainty that the future is cool, shiny…

2015

• 2015-01-30 · Responsible development of new technologies critical in complex, connected world — On July 31, 2012, a massive blackout swept across northeast India. At 1 pm local time, a power line in the state of Madhya Pradesh became…
• 2015-01-10 · Are quantum dot TVs — and their toxic ingredients — actually better for the environment? — Earlier this week, The Conversation reported that, “The future is bright, the future is … quantum dot televisions.” And judging by the…

2014

• 2014-12-14 · Researchers should take more responsibility for exaggeration in press releases — New research indicates exaggeration in academic press releases encourage exaggerated science coverage in the media
• 2014-11-23 · A Scientist’s Manifesto — What would a set of guiding principles for scientist’s responsibilities to the society they are a part of look like? Resurfacing some old ideas.