Many of the leading voices in AI have co-signed yet another ominous open letter warning that we should be“Mitigating the risk of extinction from AI." However, the voices shouting for regulation the loudest have us wondering how much of the AI fear-mongering is warranted, and how much is self-serving theater. This week Darrell is joined by Devin Coldewey to talk about  why AI doomerism is overblown, and why the blowhards doing the blowing want it that way.

Articles from the episode:

• OpenAI’s Altman and other AI giants back warning of advanced AI as ‘extinction’ risk
• EU and US lawmakers move to draft AI Code of Conduct fast
• A popular Android app began secretly spying on its users months after it was listed on Google Play
• Elizabeth Holmes is now behind bars: How we got here
• No ChatGPT in my court: Judge orders all AI-generated content must be declared and checked
• While parents worry, teens are bullying Snapchat AI
• Meta Quest 3 revealed

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Credits: The TechCrunch Podcast is produced by Maggie Stamets, hosted by Darrell Etherington, and edited by Kell.