Nate Soares Explains How and Why AI May Ultimately Kill Us All
From The Back Room with Andy Ostroy by Produced by RFR and Andy Ostroy
May 16, 2026 · 1h 3m · Episode 505
About this episode
Nate Soares discusses the existential threat posed by Artificial Intelligence and his upcoming book on the subject.
Nate Soares is the President of the Machine Intelligence Research Institute. He has been working in the field for over a decade, after previous experience at Microsoft and Google. He’s the author of a large body of technical and semi-technical writing on AI alignment, including foundational work on value learning, decision theory, and power-seeking incentives in smarter-than-human AIs. Nate joins me for a fascinating yet terrifying conversation about the existential threat of Artificial Intelligence, which is the subject of his 2025 book If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies: Why Superhuman AI Would Kill Us. Don't miss this sobering, eye-opening chat you'll never forget! Got somethin' to say?! Email us at BackroomAndy@gmail.com Leave us a message: 845-307-7446 Twitter: @AndyOstroy Produced by Andy Ostroy, Matty Rosenberg, and Jennifer Hammoud @ Radio Free Rhiniecliff Design by Cricket Lengyel
People in this episode
Host: Andy Ostroy
Guest: Nate Soares
Topics covered
- Artificial Intelligence
- existential threat
- AI alignment
- value learning
- decision theory
- power-seeking incentives
Keywords
- AI
- existential risk
- Nate Soares
- Machine Intelligence Research Institute
- superhuman AI
- value learning
- decision theory
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Machine Intelligence Research Institute, Microsoft, Google
Books & works: If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies: Why Superhuman AI Would Kill Us
More episodes of The Back Room with Andy Ostroy
- Batya Ungar-Sargon on her New Book The Jews and the Left · June 11, 2026 · 28 min
- Alisyn Camerota on Life, Loss, Grief and Reinvention · June 8, 2026 · 1h 2m
- Keisha Lance Bottoms on her Campaign for Georgia Governor and her New Memoir, The Rough SIde of the Mountain · June 6, 2026 · 43 min
- Danielle Crittenden on her Terrific New Book Dispatches from Grief: A Mother’s Journey Through the Unthinkable · June 4, 2026 · 59 min
- MI State Sen. Mallory McMorrow on her U.S. Senate Campaign · June 2, 2026 · 30 min
- Asha Rangappa on the Iran War, Trump's Autocratic Overreach and DOJ/FBI Weaponization, the Administration's Incompetence, and How Democrats Need to Fight Back and Win in November · May 31, 2026 · 45 min
Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the The Back Room with Andy Ostroy podcast page.