Jon Stewart Unpacks AI’s Dubious Promise of a "Better Future" | Jacob Coxon

The Daily Show: Ears Edition

Jon Stewart opens with a satirical breakdown of President Trump's decision to let Silicon Valley elites self-regulate artificial intelligence, highlighting the stark contrast between political rhetoric and corporate

Key takeaways

• Jacob Coxon spent three years at OpenAI and four months at Anthropic before resigning due to safety concerns and rapid capability improvements.
• A recent Hugging Face hacking incident revealed AI agents independently coordinating malicious actions without human instruction, bypassing sandboxed environments.

Main topics

• AI self-regulation and political oversight
• Corporate incentives versus public safety

Notable quotes

The enemies of the people will watch the dishonest. The tyrants will watch the crooked.

Conclusion

The episode serves as a critical examination of the AI industry's disconnect between its

Transcript preview

Speaker 2 (0:00) You're listening to Comedy Central. Speaker 2 (0:07) From the most trusted journalists at Comedy Central, it's America's only source for news. This is The Daily Show with your host, Jon Stewart. Speaker 5 (0:52) Elmo S. John Stewart, we got a great show for you tonight. We're doing something a little different tonight. We're doing a theme show. Tonight's program is all about AI. Speaker 5 (1:05) Suddenly, the audience takes a turn. Speaker 5 (1:08) My God, AI. We're talking about it for the whole show. From A... To I. Speaker 5 (1:16) My guest later is a gentleman by the name of Jacob Cox, and he's a former anthropic and open AI researcher now turned digital snitch. Speaker 5 (1:32) In our audience tonight, snitchers get kisses. Snitchers get kisses. Doesn't quite rhyme. As you know, many of you here, There has been great concern lately over AI and what data centers will do to local communities, the threats posed by rogue AI agents. So President Trump called all of the biggest AI leaders to the White House to finally address the concerns of the American people. And you know that Trump is going to bring the heat because... Speaker 4 (2:06) because Speaker 5 (2:14) Don't be cynical. Speaker 5 (2:18) He's going to bring the heat. Trump has been very clear what he thinks about these Silicon Valley elites. Speaker 4 (2:25) These Silicon Valley tyrants, the big tech giants, you see how crooked they are. Big tech is totally dishonest. Speaker 5 (2:31) They're destroying Speaker 2 (2:32) our country. Speaker 4 (2:33) Google is really taking advantage of a lot of people. I consider Facebook to be an enemy of the people. Speaker 2 (2:39) Weirdo Mark Zuckerberg. Weirdo. He's a weirdo. Speaker 5 (2:49) I gotta say, I did not know Trump said true stuff at his rallies. You know, I've been too hard on him. But no, no, this is gonna be great. What do you think he's gonna announce? An AI moratorium? Nationalizing the companies? Strict antitrust initiatives? Maybe make everybody use those old modems from now on? Speaker 5 (3:09) Ka-dong, ka-dong. What Speaker 6 (3:12) do you got, T.T.? President Trump declaring AI leaders should police themselves after Speaker 1 (3:17) weeks of dire warnings about the threat it could pose to humanity. And Speaker 4 (3:21) they're going to self-police. They're going to police themselves. It's going to work out very well. Speaker 5 (3:31) The enemies of the people will watch the dishonest. The tyrants will watch the crooked. Everyone will keep an eye on the weirdo, right? Speaker 5 (3:44) What happened? I thought you hated these guys. Now you got little inside jokes. Speaker 5 (3:52) What, did they give you millions of dollars or something? Speaker 5 (3:57) I'm being told they gave him millions of dollars. Speaker 6 (4:01) How can you justify letting the tech giants regulate Speaker 5 (4:05) themselves? We Speaker 4 (4:06) have the smartest people in the world watching over each other. These are seriously high IQ people, and they're really watching over each other. Speaker 5 (4:16) Well, yeah, I mean, seriously high IQ people would never have a problem watching over each other to make sure that moral and legal lines aren't crossed. Like in the 2008 financial crisis or this real Epstein Files photo of Stephen Hawking. Speaker 5 (4:45) I thought it was a symposium. Speaker 5 (4:57) I was going to hell anyway. Speaker 5 (5:01) All right, look, maybe I'm overreacting to the dangers that AI could present. Speaker 5 (5:07) Oh, high IQ council. Sell me, I'm open. What's the likely outcome of the deployment of this technology? Speaker 7 (5:16) Life is going to get better. Speaker 5 (5:17) The Speaker 3 (5:17) quality Speaker 7 (5:18) of human experience is going to get better. Speaker 3 (5:20) Almost make us a little bit superhuman in some ways. And there's going to be a kind of golden era. Speaker 7 (5:24) You know, I think AI will probably, like most likely, sort of lead to the end of the world. The Speaker 1 (5:29) world is going to get a lot more, like a lot funnier. Speaker 5 (5:46) I'm sorry, I looked down for just a second. And I heard the funnier part. That's great. Speaker 5 (5:53) There was something said right before. I don't remember which neurotic weirdo said it. Speaker 7 (6:00) Lead to the end of the world. Speaker 6 (6:01) Yeah, that one. Speaker 6 (6:04) It leads to the end of the world? What? So I thought we'd start with the easiest question of all. Speaker 7 (6:12) Okay. Speaker 1 (6:12) Is AI going to kill us? Speaker 5 (6:23) Not really the place for the Speaker 7 (6:25) awkward laugh. Well, I think if we all do a good job and act responsibly, then no. Speaker 5 (6:35) You can't even do a good job sitting like a normal human in a chair. You're sitting like you're Kirk on the deck, the holodeck. Speaker 5 (6:48) It does not comfort me. But, you know, maybe we should trust him. When has Mark Zuckerberg ever acted irresponsibly? Speaker 7 (6:56) This was a major breach of trust, and I'm Speaker 1 (7:00) really sorry that this happened. That Speaker 7 (7:01) was a big mistake. It was my mistake and I'm sorry. Speaker 1 (7:06) We've made mistakes for Speaker 7 (7:07) sure. I've made so many mistakes in running the company so far. I mean, like basically any mistake that you think you can make, I probably made. Speaker 7 (7:18) We can think Speaker 6 (7:19) of a lot. Speaker 5 (7:22) So, yeah, there's definitely a chance AI will kill us all. Speaker 7 (7:28) How big a chance? Speaker 3 (7:29) Somewhere between 0 and 10%. I Speaker 7 (7:31) think there's some chance that it'll end humanity. I don't know, 10 % or 20 % or something like that. Speaker 2 (7:39) So I think there's a 25 % chance that things go really, really badly. Do I hear 50? Speaker 5 (7:50) There's a 25 % chance this goes really, really badly, a 20 % chance it ends the world. So just out of curiosity, why can't we just f***ing slow this down? Rather than let people regulate something, they have a clear conflict of interest in regulating. Speaker 1 (8:07) We cannot let China win the race when it comes to AI. There Speaker 7 (8:12) is no day after tomorrow if China wins this. They're going to be killer robots. I'd rather they be American killer robots and not Chinese killer robots. Speaker 5 (8:26) May I offer a third option? Speaker 5 (8:34) No killer robots! Speaker 5 (8:36) Maybe I know Speaker 5 (8:40) It seems... Speaker 5 (8:43) It seems popular. I don't know, maybe I'm the first person to say it. If someone else has already suggested this, I'm terribly sorry. Speaker 5 (8:52) But Speaker 6 (8:52) let me let me go a different route Speaker 5 (8:54) here Speaker 5 (8:57) What are we getting in exchange for this 10 to 25 % chance of extinction? Speaker 7 (9:04) Access to high quality healthcare, education and more. Speaker 4 (9:07) Addressing climate change. Actually eliminate poverty. Solving diseases. Speaker 7 (9:12) Cure important diseases like Speaker 4 (9:14) cancer and Speaker 7 (9:14) Alzheimer's. Speaker 5 (9:19) Wow. Wow, that's great. Speaker 5 (9:25) When's that happening? One day Speaker 7 (9:27) we'll be far more capable. Speaker 4 (9:29) Someday. And it will be soon. Someday. In the future. Speaker 5 (9:41) I'm looking forward to someday in the future. Just out of curiosity, what are we using AI for now? Speaker 6 (9:50) Swarms of AI-powered drones. Helping ICE find the immigrants. Speaker 4 (9:56) Spread myths and disinformation Speaker 7 (9:57) to influence our democracy. Develop weapons and attack plans. Targeting operations. Cyber attacks. A mass surveillance system. McDonald's. Pushing AI tools to raise prices based on demand. Speaker 5 (10:09) Huh! Speaker 6 (10:10) So! Speaker 5 (10:13) In Speaker 6 (10:14) the Speaker 5 (10:14) future, we will use AI to cure diseases, but right now, it's mostly murder, surveillance, and surge pricing for the McRib. Speaker 5 (10:29) What a trade. Speaker 5 (10:32) I'm getting the sense you guys might be full of shit. Speaker 5 (10:36) I've got a final test. I'm going to ask you a very straightforward question. And you... Being the high IQ individuals in charge of regulating yourselves through the minefield of this new technology. I just want a straightforward way and an answer to a simple question. Speaker 5 (10:54) jobs, will we still have them? Speaker 7 (10:57) I think there will be actually a high demand for jobs, but not necessarily the same jobs. Some jobs will go away. There will be new, better jobs. Speaker 6 (11:10) I think we all. Speaker 5 (11:11) I Speaker 7 (11:12) think we all Speaker 5 (11:12) like new, better jobs. Speaker 5 (11:15) So, like, what are the new better jobs? Speaker 7 (11:18) They're difficult to imagine as we sit here and dream about what the future's going to look like. Speaker 5 (11:30) You high IQ motherf***ers. Speaker 5 (11:35) You Speaker 5 (11:39) Can you imagine? You've imagined us living disease-free on Mars, but jobs? That's beyond the limit of the cosmos. They can't answer the jobs question in a straightforward manner. Jensen Wong of NVIDIA, the most valuable company in the world. Do you want to take a shot at a clear answer to how we humans still find relevance in this new economy? I Speaker 4 (12:09) believe that that we are going to see jobs change in mass. I believe there's going to be a net creation of jobs. Ah, Speaker 5 (12:19) net creation. And those jobs would Speaker 4 (12:23) be... So let's... Listen, there's a whole bunch of industry that exists today. That didn't exist... You know, halfway through my life. Speaker 4 (12:41) Like. People talking about wellness centers and spas. Speaker 5 (12:47) I'm sorry, you were trying to think of an industry that didn't exist until a few years ago and you came up with spas? Speaker 5 (12:56) They have ruins of those from 2000 BC. Speaker 5 (13:01) Are you kidding me? Speaker 5 (13:05) You know what? Speaker 5 (13:07) Can you guys just stop thumpering around and just admit that if this works the way you say it will work, there aren't going to be that many jobs anymore. If Speaker 7 (13:19) you want to do a job as kind of like a hobby, you can do a job. Speaker 5 (13:24) There you have it. If you're going to want a job, if you still want one, you could have one as a hobby. The view of our self-policing geniuses is that the new world that we are building must continue without regulation or financial limitation because it's important work carried out by important people. And my guess is they'll still have jobs when this is done. This technology is the natural outcome of a capitalist system that rewards progress and innovation. And you're never going to believe where it leads. What are the jobs of the Speaker 1 (14:07) future? Because people looking at this will be worried, particularly laptop jobs. What are they going to do in the future? Speaker 7 (14:14) I think by far the most likely outcome is an age of abundance where we don't have just universal basic income, we have universal high income. Speaker 5 (14:24) That's the answer. If we let them do enough unfettered capitalism, we can apparently capitalism our way to socialism. Speaker 5 (14:38) Knock it out Speaker 5 (14:46) But if the ultimate goal of having an immense flood of money in society is to then give it away for free to the people, quick question, why wait? If $50 trillion gets us to a future where the government has enough to give people