TRIGGERnometry – “AI CEO: People Have No Idea What’s Coming!” with Eoghan McCabe

Podcast Date: December 17, 2025
Guests:

• Eoghan McCabe (AI company CEO)
• Hosts: Konstantin Kisin (Host 1), Francis Foster (Host 2)

Overview

This episode is a nuanced and candid discussion about the present and future of artificial intelligence (AI) with Eoghan McCabe, the CEO of a leading AI company based in San Francisco. The conversation explores the rapid development of AI technology, its societal, economic, and geopolitical implications, the challenges (both utopian and dystopian), cultural/societal meaning and purpose, the politicization of AI, and what it means to be "pro-human" in an AI-driven future.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. AI’s Acceleration – Public Misunderstanding and Inevitable Change

• AI is a “digital form of intelligence”—powered by large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, which only burst onto the mainstream in the past few years (02:43).
• The technology is largely trained on publicly available online content—Wikipedia, Reddit, mainstream media, YouTube, and other human-created internet material (04:46).
• Even experts in the field can’t fully predict what's next. "Even the people deep in AI don't know what's coming next. It's constantly changing." (05:45)
• AI is inevitable: “It’s happening, it’s happening, it’s happening, it’s happening, it’s happening.” (33:27)

2. Economic and Societal Disruption

• Major economic shifts are likely—many jobs may be automated, but also new types of work will emerge (05:45, 10:46).
• Historically, tech replaced unpleasant or “shit work”, improving human prosperity in the long run; but if AI progresses too quickly, social turmoil could result (05:45).
• Meaningful human roles will remain: Jobs that require creativity, “the human spirit,” and deep science will persist (10:46).
  • “I do think that two things you could focus on as a young person will be things that benefit from and enjoy the human soul and spirit and creativity… And things that use AI itself. Become an AI operator and expert.” (12:58)

3. Adaptation Timelines & Human Adjustment

• Change might not be as abrupt as feared: Timeline for driverless cars, for instance, has already spanned over a decade, and large-scale replacement of drivers is still years away (13:28–14:09).
• Most repetitive jobs aren’t a fulfilling source of purpose, but humans will need meaning and a sense of societal contribution—raising concerns about "joblessness of meaning," not just of income (17:06–18:22).

4. Geopolitical Arms Race: US, China, and the West

• China is aggressively adopting and scaling AI, with less concern for regulation or ideological debate. “China doesn’t care about any of that stuff. They’re on a singular mission to become the preeminent global power.” (23:43)
• The West’s strengths: Creativity, free speech, risk-taking, and innovation. But, China’s scale, lack of regulatory friction, and resources make them formidable (25:34–26:42).
• “If we sit it out... We shrivel and suffer economically like Europe has been doing… China just gets stronger.” (21:46)

5. AI in Warfare and Security

• Concerns about AI’s militarization: drone swarms, autonomous weapons, and rapid military applications (16:02, 28:11, 31:40).
  • “The craziest and most Hollywood-esque example of where it gets scary are AI-powered drones and drone swarms. ...I don’t think we can defend against that.” (16:02, 31:40)
• Large-scale surveillance, election influence, and signals intelligence are also possible domains for AI deployment.

6. Political Polarization and "Woke" AI

• AI reflects the values in its training data—model biases stem from internet content and hardcoded corporate values, leading to debates over “woke” output (39:05–41:32).
  • “There may be some logic that thinks it’s a good idea to consider that they’re in the wrong body… I think this WOKE stuff could be embedded in the AI for a long, long, long, long time.” (39:05)
• AI will continue to struggle with neutrality: “What is a neutral take? What is objective? There’s no such thing.” (42:14)
• The politicization of AI is real, with Silicon Valley shifting from historically left/liberal to more centrist or right-leaning views among decision-makers (34:33–35:22).

7. AI and Regulation

• Regulation is a double-edged sword—often slow, inefficient, or ideologically driven, but some level (“no teaching chemical weapons, etc.”) is necessary (46:48–48:04).
• The industry is still in its “wild west” phase: “It’s okay because it’s actually not that useful yet… Modern AI could do 3% of freelance work. It’s pretty useless still.” (48:20–49:17)

8. The Human in the Loop: Pro-Human Leadership

• Eoghan McCabe stands out as “extremely pro-human,” championing imperfection, creative process, and the ineffable traits that make humans unique (00:00, 60:20).
  • “I love the messiness of humans… For me, I like a lot of imperfection. Right. I like the human stuff.” (60:20–62:19)
• AI will supplement—not replace—many fields: in customer service, healthcare, therapy, etc., with humans needed for empathy and connection (62:21–66:27).

9. AGI ("Artificial General Intelligence") and Existential Risks

• The prospect of an AI “God” or runaway intelligence is not imminent. Current AI can handle only 3% of freelancing tasks (66:52, 67:34).
  • “If there’s anything I’ve been trying to do in this conversation, it’s just temper the fears… It’s not about to happen tomorrow or in 10 years, I don’t think.” (69:51)
• However, superintelligent AI could be extraordinary or catastrophic—nobody truly knows (67:03–68:46).

10. AI’s Impact on Relationships and Fertility

• Speculation on “robot girlfriends,” AI companions, and the ongoing fertility crisis (70:43–77:13).
  • Eoghan: “I just don’t think humans actually want perfect. Maybe some people think they do, but they don’t.” (71:58)
• AI may exacerbate or solve certain social issues, such as loneliness or population decline, but will not replace genuine human relationships (73:31).

11. Optimism, Balance, and the Need for Nuanced Conversation

• The conversation calls for avoiding both utopian and doomer narratives, engaging with nuance, realism, and humility (79:15).
  • “My big message to everyone working in AI is let’s just explore the full spectrum of possibilities which most people are.” (60:13)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Eoghan McCabe:
  • “Even the people deep in AI don't know what's coming next. It's constantly changing.” (05:45)
  • “Technology has repeatedly taken people out of repetitive shit work. And during that time the population has increased, GDP has increased, people have lived longer, they're healthier, happier, more productive.” (14:09)
  • “I love the imperfections of humans. I love the messiness of humans. There's a lot of left brain people here that think about how perfect the world will be when we iron out all these inefficiencies and mistakes that humans make. For me, I like the messiness of humans.” (60:32)
  • “If there’s anything I’ve been trying to do in this conversation, it’s just temper the fears… It’s not about to happen tomorrow or in 10 years, I don't think.” (69:51)
  • “It's happening, it's happening, it's happening, it's happening, it's happening.” (33:27)
• Host 1:
  • “What about meaning? What about purpose? What about a reason to get up in the morning?” (17:06)
  • "Like I mentioned with my dentist... it just tracks where your gum was last year, where it is now. It’s like a simple thing." (66:27)
• Host 2:
  • “There are some AI models, you ask them what a woman is and it starts behaving like, you know, Denise from HR, right? And you’re going, what the hell is this?” (39:05)
  • “Robot girlfriends. And let me tell you why…If you could design…your perfect woman, your perfect man...Why wouldn’t you?” (70:43)

Timestamps for Key Segments

| Timestamp | Segment | |-----------|---------| | 00:00 | Eoghan McCabe’s “pro-human” stance introduced | | 02:43 | What AI is & recent shift due to LLMs | | 04:46 | Data sources for AI and Internet bias | | 05:45 | Pace of change and unpredictability in AI | | 10:28 | Most vulnerable jobs, advice for young people: creativity and AI expertise | | 13:28 | Timeline for driverless cars & societal adaptation | | 17:06 | Concerns for meaning and purpose in work | | 21:46 | China’s inevitability in AI race, why the West must keep up | | 23:43 | How China approaches AI and technological ambitions | | 26:42 | Free speech, innovation, and East vs. West strategies | | 31:40 | AI-powered warfare: drones and new military risks | | 33:27 | "It’s happening, it’s happening..."—the inevitability of AI | | 34:33 | Tech industry’s political shift toward the right | | 39:05 | Woke AI and hardcoded ideological biases | | 44:42 | Lessons from “move fast and break things” & social media mistakes | | 46:48 | Should AI be regulated? The Wild West analogy | | 49:17 | AI is still only effective for 3% of freelance work | | 60:13 | Eoghan’s strong pro-human position | | 66:52 | AGI, “God AI,” and existential risk debate | | 70:43 | AI, robot girlfriends, and the future of relationships | | 79:15 | Need for more nuanced conversations about AI’s impacts |

Final Thoughts

• No single narrative fits the future of AI—neither doom nor utopia.
• The key message: Ongoing, honest, and inclusive discussions—across political divides—are crucial to managing the coming transformation.
• AI will augment, not erase, the best parts of humanity if guided wisely—but complacency, fear, and ideological rigidity all pose distinct risks.

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