What the Pope Got Right (and Why Tech Leaders Won't Listen)

About this episode

The episode discusses the implications of recent AI developments and the Pope's call for AI disarmament, exploring themes of control and responsibility in technology.

Five stories, one week: the Pope released a 42,000-word document calling for AI to be disarmed. Researchers left 10 AI agents unsupervised in a virtual town and watched them commit arson and assault within days. Elon Musk launched a coding agent to compete with Anthropic and OpenAI. Waymo is creating gridlock in Atlanta. And Ferrari unveiled a $640K electric car that is slower than a Tesla. The question underneath all of it: who is actually in charge of this, and does that person have any reason to care what happens to everyone else? Key Moments 00:00 — Jeremy opens with his Ferrari dream, then pivots to the Pope's 42,000-word AI document 01:09 — Jason draws the parallel between religion and AI as competing systems of social control 04:41 — The real concern: not a sky monster, but the followers who don't think critically 05:22 — Why religion and AI converge on the same lever: influencing behavior at scale 09:27 — Emergence experiment: 10 AI agents, a simulated town, arson and self-deletion within days 10:16 — Jason's theory: scarcity + survival instinct = violence, whether you're a human or a model 14:29 — Grok Build launches as a coding agent — and Jason's read on why it exists…

People in this episode

Hosts: Jeremy Grater, Jason Haworth

Topics covered

• AI ethics
• technology impact
• social control
• behavioral influence
• autonomous systems
• electric vehicles

Keywords

• AI disarmament
• Pope
• Elon Musk
• Waymo
• Ferrari
• autonomous agents
• social control
• technology ethics

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Waymo, Anthropic, OpenAI, Ferrari, Bezos

Products: Grok Build, Tesla, Slate, Ferrari Luce

Books & works: Pope's 42,000-word document

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