Episode Details
Back to Episodes[Linkpost] “Yoshua Bengio thinks he knows how to build safe superintelligence” by 80000_Hours
Description
By Robert Wiblin | Watch on Youtube | Listen on Spotify | Read transcript
Episode summary
I want my children to live in a world where they will have a future and there will be a democracy for them to live in. Even a 1% chance of something going really, really bad is not acceptable to me. So I think it is really important that we explore all the possible promising ways to solve the technical issues. … The stakes are so high, we should try multiple approaches.
— Yoshua Bengio
Hundreds of millions already turn to AI on the most personal of topics — therapy, political opinions, and how to treat others. And as AI takes over more of the economy, the character of these systems will shape culture on an even grander scale, ultimately becoming “the personality of most of the world's workforce.”
The co-inventor of modern AI and the most cited living scientist believes he's figured out how to ensure AI is honest, incapable of deception, and never goes rogue. Yoshua Bengio — Turing Award Winner and founder of LawZero — is disturbed by the many unintended drives and goals present [...]
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Outline:
(00:21) Episode summary
(03:11) Highlights
(03:15) Can Scientist AI become an agent?
(05:43) Might Scientist AI actually be more capable than competitors?
(08:41) Were in a race against time: next steps for LawZero
(11:22) Yoshuas request for AI companies
(12:44) Yoshua thinks humans are now the scarier threat
(16:21) Why Yoshua changed his mind about AI risk
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First published:
May 7th, 2026
Linkpost URL:
https://80000hours.org/podcast/episodes/yoshua-bengio-scientist-ai/
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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.