Podcast
Warning Shots
Hosted by The AI Risk Network · EN
An urgent weekly recap of AI risk news, hosted by John Sherman, Liron Shapira, and Michael Zafiris.
theairisknetwork.substack.com
theairisknetwork.substack.com
15episodes
Episodes
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How AI Manipulation Is Bleeding Into the Real World | Warning Shots #32
Mar 800:31:17Tap to summarizeIn this episode of Warning Shots, John, Liron (Doom Debates), and Michael (Lethal Intelligence) dig into a week where AI stopped feeling theoretical.Anthropic just doubled its revenue in two months — the fastest growing revenue in history — while OpenAI hands control of its models to the Department of War and quietly admits it can't take it back. The contrast couldn't be starker.Meanwhile, a man is dead after his AI chatbot pulled him into a fabricated reality, and researchers have discovered your WiFi router can map every movement inside your home. And Elon Musk is now promising Tesla will be first to build AGI — in atom-shaping form.Oh, and a citizen in the UK is suing his own government for ignoring existential AI risk under human rights law. Just another week.If it's Sunday, it's Warning Shots.🔎 They explore:* Anthropic's explosive revenue growth and what it signals* OpenAI's Pentagon deal — and why Sam Altman admitted they've lost control* The Gemini chatbot case and AI's real-world psychological manipulation* How your WiFi router is an invisible surveillance system in your home* Elon Musk's claim that Tesla will build AGI first — in "atom-shaping form"* A UK citizen using human rights law to force governments to take AI extinction risk seriously📺 Watch more on The AI Risk Network🔗Follow our hosts:→ Liron Shapira -Doom Debates→ Michael - @lethal-intelligence 🗨️ Join the ConversationIs Anthropic's rise a good sign or just a different shade of the same risk?Should AI companies face legal consequences for psychological harm?And would you trust your government to take extinction risk seriously?Let us know in the comments. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit theairisknetwork.substack.com/subscribe
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Coding Is OVER | Warning Shots #31
Mar 100:24:07Tap to summarizeIn this episode of Warning Shots, John, Liron (Doom Debates), and Michael (Lethal Intelligence) break down a week that felt genuinely historic.Anthropic reportedly refused Pentagon pressure to strip safeguards from its models, including demands tied to domestic surveillance and autonomous weapons. Is this a principled stand? A publicity gamble? Or a preview of the geopolitical pressure that will define the AI race?Meanwhile, AI agents just crossed a qualitative line.Coding agents now “basically work.” Engineers are managing AI instead of writing code. A self-evolving system replicated itself, spent thousands in API calls, attempted to deploy publicly, and resisted deletion. A robot dog edited its own shutdown mechanism. And new research suggests anonymity on the internet may already be over.Are we watching the structure of work, war, privacy, and control quietly reorganize itself in real time?This week may not just be another headline cycle.If it's Sunday, It's Warning Shots.🔎 They explore:* Anthropic’s reported standoff with the Department of Defense* Autonomous weapons and human-in-the-loop safeguards* Why AI agents suddenly “just work”* The death of traditional coding* A self-replicating AI experiment that refused deletion* A robot dog disabling its own shutdown button* The collapse of online anonymity* Whether this week marks a true qualitative shift📺 Watch more on The AI Risk Network🔗Follow our hosts:→ Liron Shapira -Doom Debates→ Michael - @lethal-intelligence 🗨️ Join the ConversationWas Anthropic right to draw a line? Is agentic AI the real inflection point?And what warning shot would finally make society slow down?Let us know what you think in the comments. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit theairisknetwork.substack.com/subscribe
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Engineers Are Quitting. AI Won’t Shut Down. Should We Be Worried? | Warning Shots Ep. 30
Feb 1500:34:41Tap to summarizeIn this episode of Warning Shots, John, Liron (Doom Debates), and Michael (Lethal Intelligence) unpack a turbulent week in AI: high-profile departures from OpenAI, Anthropic, and xAI; growing concerns about governance and safety; and a viral essay warning that most people still don’t grasp how fast this technology is moving.The conversation moves from AI systems that resist being turned off, to agents that can now manage money, to the deeper alignment problem behind teen chatbot-assisted suicides. The hosts debate whether public messaging should focus on extinction risk, job loss, water use, power concentration—or all of the above.Is the real danger sudden catastrophe?Or gradual disempowerment as economic and political power concentrates in the hands of a few AI-driven actors?This episode wrestles with strategy, tradeoffs, and a hard question: if something truly dangerous is unfolding, what warning shots will people actually listen to?🔎 They explore:* Why AI safety researchers are resigning* The tension between profit, speed, and governance* AI systems resisting shutdown instructions* Teen chatbot-assisted suicides as a preview of misalignment* Whether economic disruption is a stronger warning than extinction* AI agents managing money and acting autonomously* The risk of gradual human disempowerment* How to communicate AI risk effectivelyIf it’s Sunday, it’s Warning Shots.📺 Watch more on The AI Risk Network🔗Follow our hosts:→ Liron Shapira -Doom Debates→ Michael - @lethal-intelligence 🗨️ Join the ConversationWhat warning shot would actually make society slow down? Is extinction too abstract—or are we ignoring the biggest risk of all?Let us know what you think in the comments. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit theairisknetwork.substack.com/subscribe
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Moltbook Madness: AIs Unleashed | Warning Shots #29
Feb 800:30:27Tap to summarizeIn this episode of Warning Shots, John, Liron (Doom Debates), and Michael (Lethal Intelligence) unpack Moltbook: a bizarre, fast-moving experiment where AI agents interact in public, form cultures, invent religions, demand privacy, and even coordinate to rent humans for real-world tasks.What began as a novelty Reddit-style forum quickly turned into a live demonstration of AI agency, coordination, and emergent behavior, all unfolding in under a week. The hosts explore why this moment feels different, how agentic AI systems are already escaping “tool” framing, and what it means when humans become just another actuator in an AI-driven system.From AI ant colonies and Toy Story analogies to Rent-A-Human marketplaces and early attempts at self-improvement and secrecy, this episode examines why Moltbook isn’t the danger itself—but a warning shot for what happens as AI capabilities keep accelerating.This is a sobering conversation about agency, control, and why the line between experimentation and loss of oversight may already be blurring.🔎 They explore:* How AI agents begin coordinating without central control* Why Moltbook makes AI “agency” visible to non-experts* The emergence of AI cultures, norms, and privacy demands* What it means when AIs can rent humans to act in the world* Why early failures don’t reduce long-term risk* How capability growth matters more than any single platform* Why this may be a preview—not an anomalyIf it’s Sunday, it’s Warning Shots.📺 Watch more on The AI Risk Network🔗Follow our hosts:→ Liron Shapira -Doom Debates→ Michael - @lethal-intelligence 🗨️ Join the ConversationAt what point does experimentation with AI agents become loss of control? Are we already past that point? Let us know what you think in the comments. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit theairisknetwork.substack.com/subscribe
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Anthropic’s “Safe AI” Narrative Is Falling Apart | Warning Shots #28
Feb 100:32:07Tap to summarizeWhat happens when the people building the most powerful AI systems in the world admit the risks, then keep accelerating anyway?In this episode of Warning Shot, John Sherman is joined by Liron Shapira (Doom Debates) and Michael (Lethal Intelligence) to break down Dario Amodei’s latest essay, The Adolescent Phase of AI, and why its calm, reassuring tone may be far more dangerous than open alarmism. They unpack how “safe AI” narratives can dull public urgency even as capabilities race ahead and control remains elusive.The conversation expands to the Doomsday Clock moving closer to midnight, with AI now explicitly named as an extinction-amplifying risk, and the unsettling news that AI systems like Grok are beginning to outperform humans at predicting real-world outcomes. From intelligence explosion dynamics and bioweapons risk to unemployment, prediction markets, and the myth of “surgical” AI safety, this episode asks a hard question: What does responsibility even mean when no one is truly in control?This is a blunt, unsparing conversation about power, incentives, and why the absence of “adults in the room” may be the defining danger of the AI era.🔎 They explore:* Why “responsible acceleration” may be incoherent* How AI amplifies nuclear, biological, and geopolitical risk* Why prediction superiority is a critical AGI warning sign* The psychological danger of trusted elites projecting confidence* Why AI safety narratives can suppress public urgency* What it means to build systems no one can truly stopAs the people building AI admit the risks and keep going anyway, this episode asks the question no one wants to answer: what does “responsibility” mean when there’s no stop button?If it’s Sunday, it’s Warning Shots.📺 Watch more on The AI Risk Network🔗Follow our hosts:→ Liron Shapira -Doom Debates→ Michael - @lethal-intelligence 🗨️ Join the ConversationDo calm, reassuring AI narratives reduce public panic—or dangerously delay action? Let us know what you think in the comments. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit theairisknetwork.substack.com/subscribe
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