Wanna slow down AI? These biologists can help.

Fifty years ago, scientists pioneering a terrifying gene-splicing technology figured out a way to collectively hit pause. Can we do it again with AI? 

We ask because some top AI industry leaders are saying the technology they’re pushing forward is moving too quickly … and might kill us all. They’re effectively saying, ‘Please, please regulate us! Slow us down! Tie our hands!’ 

But, by and large, they’re not slowing down, because they don’t want to be left behind. In other words, it’s a classic collective action problem. A type of problem that’s scary, but solvable. We’ve been here before. 

In 1975, a group of scientists holed up for four days on California’s foggy Central Coast to stop the runaway technology of their generation: a new DNA splicing technology that they feared could cause mass death. On today’s show, how they set aside ambition and competition to stop a runaway technology. 

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This episode was produced by Vito Emanuel. It was edited by Marianne McCune and fact-checked by Sierra Juarez. It was engineered by Travis Hagan. Alex Goldmark is our executive producer. 

Music: NPR Source Audio – “Left Coastingg,” “Going Nuts,” and “Unsatisfied Reflection”

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