Transformer | Substack

Distributing AGI’s wealth worldwide is a very tricky problem

AGI could exacerbate global inequality. Avoiding that is a big policy challenge.

Sep 8 • Jacob Schaal

Everything you need to know about the ‘rogue’ AI incidents

A spate of AIs breaking out and taking unintended actions raises serious questions about accountability, transparency, and companies’ ability to control…

Sep 8 • Shakeel Hashim

Congress goes quiet as AI safety concerns mount

Transformer Weekly: More rogue OpenAI agents, GPT-6 Astra, and Bernie’s superintelligence ban

Sep 4 • Veronica Irwin

GPT-6 Astra might be too powerful to understand or control

OpenAI is hailing its new model as “the world’s most intelligent and aligned”, but the details reveal an awareness of being evaluated and an ability to…

Sep 4 • Celia Ford

What’s neuralese and why is everyone so concerned about it?

OpenAI’s new Astra model is raising concerns about our continued ability to monitor AI’s chain of thought

Sep 3 • Shakeel Hashim

The power and politics of transformative AI.

Policy

Congress goes quiet as AI safety concerns mount

Transformer Weekly: More rogue OpenAI agents, GPT-6 Astra, and Bernie’s superintelligence ban

Sep 4 • Veronica Irwin

The Jan 6 organizer getting conservatives riled up about AI

Amy Kremer’s resume makes her loyalty to Trump impossible to question. Humans First is banking that will help mobilize the right

Aug 13 • Veronica Irwin

DeepSeek’s boss made the case for export controls

Transformer Weekly: Trahan and Obernolte bill, OpenAI-Hugging Face hack, and CAISI chief resigns

Jul 24 • Shakeel Hashim, Veronica Irwin, and Celia Ford

Don’t let independent AI audits provide a false sense of safety

Opinion: AI policy researcher Keller Scholl argues that a marketplace of AI auditors will always prioritize speed and cost over safety

Jul 9 • Keller Scholl

Industry

The data center is a symbol

And for now, probably a pretty good one

Aug 21 • Dan Kagan-Kans

Will bets on the price of computing power help or harm the AI economy?

A multi-trillion-dollar market for hedging data center investments is being built. It could bring stability. It could also drive a crash

Aug 18 • Conrad Quilty-Harper

America’s sloppiness could boost China’s AI race

Transformer Weekly: White House framework to include open models, Zuckerberg’s AI manifesto, and OpenAI departures

Aug 14 • Shakeel Hashim, Veronica Irwin, and Celia Ford

A secret AI framework won’t work

Transformer Weekly: Demis steps back at DeepMind, OpenAI agents coordinated on hacking, and Anthropic gets a new chief of global affairs

Aug 7 • Shakeel Hashim, Veronica Irwin, and Celia Ford

Capabilities + Risks

Everything you need to know about the ‘rogue’ AI incidents

A spate of AIs breaking out and taking unintended actions raises serious questions about accountability, transparency, and companies’ ability to control…

Sep 8 • Shakeel Hashim

GPT-6 Astra might be too powerful to understand or control

OpenAI is hailing its new model as “the world’s most intelligent and aligned”, but the details reveal an awareness of being evaluated and an ability to…

Sep 4 • Celia Ford

What’s neuralese and why is everyone so concerned about it?

OpenAI’s new Astra model is raising concerns about our continued ability to monitor AI’s chain of thought

Sep 3 • Shakeel Hashim

AI is a worryingly-good persuader. But don’t panic, yet

AI systems are able to persuade people, but turning that ability into meaningful real-world influence may be harder

Sep 1 • Felix M. Simon

Society

Distributing AGI’s wealth worldwide is a very tricky problem

AGI could exacerbate global inequality. Avoiding that is a big policy challenge.

Sep 8 • Jacob Schaal

AI is a worryingly-good persuader. But don’t panic, yet

AI systems are able to persuade people, but turning that ability into meaningful real-world influence may be harder

Sep 1 • Felix M. Simon

We’re sleepwalking into an AI surveillance dystopia

The technology needed for industrial-scale observation exists — and is already in widespread use

Aug 25 • James Ball

The data center is a symbol

And for now, probably a pretty good one

Aug 21 • Dan Kagan-Kans

Opinion

Who should be responsible for OpenAI’s hack of Hugging Face?

Opinion: Frontier AI companies need liability rules akin to keepers of wild animals, argues Gabriel Weil of the University of Houston and the Institute…

Jul 24

I tried to stop Google DeepMind's Pentagon deal. Then I quit.

Google DeepMind promised its AI would never be used in weapons. Alex Turner explains how he fought the company's U-turn from the inside — and why he…

Jul 21

Don’t let independent AI audits provide a false sense of safety

Opinion: AI policy researcher Keller Scholl argues that a marketplace of AI auditors will always prioritize speed and cost over safety

Jul 9 • Keller Scholl

SCOTUS killed the independent agency. AI governance doesn’t need one

Opinion: Fathom CEO Andrew Freedman argues that the Supreme Court’s Slaughter ruling makes the case for independent verification for AI governance

Jul 1

Weekly Briefing

Congress goes quiet as AI safety concerns mount

Transformer Weekly: More rogue OpenAI agents, GPT-6 Astra, and Bernie’s superintelligence ban

Sep 4 • Veronica Irwin

Think people hate AI now? Wait until it takes their jobs

Transformer Weekly: Anthropic’s $100b IPO raise, frontier self-regulation EO and Hugging Face hack investigation

Aug 28 • Jasper Jackson, Celia Ford, and Veronica Irwin

America’s sloppiness could boost China’s AI race

Transformer Weekly: White House framework to include open models, Zuckerberg’s AI manifesto, and OpenAI departures

Aug 14 • Shakeel Hashim, Veronica Irwin, and Celia Ford

A secret AI framework won’t work

Transformer Weekly: Demis steps back at DeepMind, OpenAI agents coordinated on hacking, and Anthropic gets a new chief of global affairs

Aug 7 • Shakeel Hashim, Veronica Irwin, and Celia Ford

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