Uploaded June 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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Subscribe to The NonZero Newsletter at: nonzero.org
Exclusive Overtime discussion: nonzero.org/p/openai-and-the-ai-arms-race-robert

0:00 Steven’s years at OpenAI
1:59 An insider's view of the AI boom
11:33 The real meaning of “Feel the AGI”
16:21 AI safety’s rationalist kernel
24:13 What’s really driving the AI arms race(s)?
29:27 Is stifling China’s AI development smart?
44:05 Dario Amodei’s geopolitical naivete
56:10 Heading to Overtime

Discussed in Overtime:
Unpacking OpenAI’s restructuring.
OpenAI's mission—then and now.
The stubborn logic of sycophantic AI.
What a near-term AI catastrophe could look like.
Is the agentic AI era here? Or even near?

Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Steven Adler (https://stevenadler.substack.com). Recorded May 21, 2025.

Twitter: twitter.com/NonzeroPods