Nassim Nicholas Taleb on Twitter / X

The People Who Will Thrive in the AI Age

What will differentiate people is not how smart they are but their relationship to mental effort.

AI is An Ideology, Not A Technology

At its core, "artificial intelligence" is a perilous belief that fails to recognize the agency of humans.

The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Human Thought

This research paper examines, from a multidimensional perspective (cognitive, social, ethical, and philosophical), how AI is transforming human thought. It highlights a cognitive offloading effect: the externalization of mental functions to AI can reduce intellectual engagement and weaken critical thinking. On the social level, algorithmic personalization creates filter bubbles that limit the diversity of opinions and can lead to the homogenization of thought and polarization. This research also describes the mechanisms of algorithmic manipulation (exploitation of cognitive biases, automated disinformation, etc.) that amplify AI's power of influence. Finally, the question of potential artificial consciousness is discussed, along with its ethical implications. The report as a whole underscores the risks that AI poses to human intellectual autonomy and creativity, while proposing avenues (education, transparency, governance) to align AI development with the interests of humanity.

Our minds aren’t equipped to handle AI

AI is junk food for the mind: easy, tempting and ultimately very bad for you.

Agentic AI and the next intelligence explosion

For decades, the artificial intelligence (AI) “singularity” has been heralded as a single, titanic mind bootstrapping itself to godlike intelligence, consolidating all cognition into a cold silicon point. But this vision is almost certainly wrong in its most fundamental assumption. If AI development follows the path of previous major evolutionary transitions or “intelligence explosions,” our current step-change in computational intelligence will be plural, social, and deeply entangled with its forebears (us!).

The AI Industry Has a Major Problem: Most People Aren’t Freaks Who Want an AI Agent Running Their Whole Life

There's a problem for AI agents like Meta's Muse: ordinary people don't seem very interested in what they're offering.

How US adults are using AI, according to AP-NORC polling

A new poll finds most Americans say they've used artificial intelligence to search for information. But it's younger adults who appear to be the generation leaning the most into AI, with many using it for brainstorming and work tasks.

AI FOR EPISTEMICS & COORDINATION

Civilization and technology have radically improved the human condition. Nonetheless, the world sometimes goes in directions which essentially nobody would prefer — e.g., nuclear arms races, unexpected financial crashes, predatory marketing, or ubiquitous political misinformation.

AI Is a Waste of Time

The newest AI tools are accelerating basic research and scaring the general public. But many people are simply using them as toys.

AI is getting too advanced

Most Americans say AI development is moving too fast and twice as many are AI pessimists as AI optimists

Young adults are more likely than older Americans to believe that AI will create economic gains that benefit everyone, but they are also more likely to worry that AI will replace jobs they depend upon

Software engineering may no longer be a lifetime career

I don’t think there’s compelling evidence that using AI makes you less intelligent overall1. However, it seems pretty obvious that using AI to perform a task means you don’t learn as much about performing that task. Some software engineers think this is a decisive argument against the use of AI. Their argument goes something like this:

AIs are not people

Humans and other fleshy life-forms are valuable in ways that artificial intelligence never can be.

How Americans see AI impacting human skills; its role in science, matchmaking, religion and more

Majorities don’t want AI to give advice about religion or love. But many say AI should help forecast weather, search for financial crimes, develop medicine and more.

Some Kids Will Never Think AI Is Cool

“I think it should stand for ‘artificial idiot,’” one 9-year-old says. Here’s why kids of all ages are calling AI “disgusting” and “creepy.”