World Model · podcast knowledge graph

Controlling Tools or Aligning Creatures? Emmett Shear (Softmax) & Séb Krier (GDM), from a16z Show

2025-12-27 · 76 min · 25 entities

episode page audio

Asserted relationships

  • 0.77
    evidence rules-v4
    Link in episode "Controlling Tools or Aligning Creatures? Emmett Shear (Softmax) & Séb Krier (GDM), from a16z Show": https://podcasts.apple.com/de/podcast/the-cognitive-revolution-ai-builders-researchers-and/id1669813431
  • → hosted by Erik Torenberg, Nathan Labenz person
    0.55
    evidence rules-v4
    Feed author/publisher: Erik Torenberg, Nathan Labenz
  • → discusses Society & Culture concept
    0.40
    evidence rules-v4
    Feed category: Society & Culture
  • → discusses Technology concept
    0.40
    evidence rules-v4
    Feed category: Technology
  • → discusses Business concept
    0.40
    evidence rules-v4
    Feed category: Business
  • → discusses Entrepreneurship concept
    0.40
    evidence rules-v4
    Feed category: Entrepreneurship
  • → hosted by Turpentine company
    0.40
    evidence rules-v4
    Feed author/publisher: Turpentine
  • → references aipodcast.ing website
    0.38
    evidence rules-v4
    Link in episode "Controlling Tools or Aligning Creatures? Emmett Shear (Softmax) & Séb Krier (GDM), from a16z Show": https://aipodcast.ing/
  • → references @CognitiveRevolutionPodcast website
    0.38
    evidence rules-v4
    Link in episode "Controlling Tools or Aligning Creatures? Emmett Shear (Softmax) & Séb Krier (GDM), from a16z Show": https://youtube.com/@CognitiveRevolutionPodcast
  • → references cognitiverevolution.ai website
    0.38
    evidence rules-v4
    Link in episode "Controlling Tools or Aligning Creatures? Emmett Shear (Softmax) & Séb Krier (GDM), from a16z Show": https://cognitiverevolution.ai/
  • → references tasklet.ai website
    0.38
    evidence rules-v4
    Link in episode "Controlling Tools or Aligning Creatures? Emmett Shear (Softmax) & Séb Krier (GDM), from a16z Show": https://tasklet.ai/
  • → references S26 Tcr website
    0.38
    evidence rules-v4
    Link in episode "Controlling Tools or Aligning Creatures? Emmett Shear (Softmax) & Séb Krier (GDM), from a16z Show": https://matsprogram.org/s26-tcr

Entities found in this episode

websites 10

  • mentioned aipodcast.ing website
    0.45
    evidence rules-v4
    Link in episode "Controlling Tools or Aligning Creatures? Emmett Shear (Softmax) & Séb Krier (GDM), from a16z Show": https://aipodcast.ing/
  • mentioned @CognitiveRevolutionPodcast website
    0.45
    evidence rules-v4
    Link in episode "Controlling Tools or Aligning Creatures? Emmett Shear (Softmax) & Séb Krier (GDM), from a16z Show": https://youtube.com/@CognitiveRevolutionPodcast
  • mentioned cognitiverevolution.ai website
    0.45
    evidence rules-v4
    Link in episode "Controlling Tools or Aligning Creatures? Emmett Shear (Softmax) & Séb Krier (GDM), from a16z Show": https://cognitiverevolution.ai/
  • mentioned tasklet.ai website
    0.45
    evidence rules-v4
    Link in episode "Controlling Tools or Aligning Creatures? Emmett Shear (Softmax) & Séb Krier (GDM), from a16z Show": https://tasklet.ai/
  • mentioned S26 Tcr website
    0.45
    evidence rules-v4
    Link in episode "Controlling Tools or Aligning Creatures? Emmett Shear (Softmax) & Séb Krier (GDM), from a16z Show": https://matsprogram.org/s26-tcr.
  • references aipodcast.ing website
    0.38
    evidence rules-v4
    Link in episode "Controlling Tools or Aligning Creatures? Emmett Shear (Softmax) & Séb Krier (GDM), from a16z Show": https://aipodcast.ing/
  • references @CognitiveRevolutionPodcast website
    0.38
    evidence rules-v4
    Link in episode "Controlling Tools or Aligning Creatures? Emmett Shear (Softmax) & Séb Krier (GDM), from a16z Show": https://youtube.com/@CognitiveRevolutionPodcast
  • references cognitiverevolution.ai website
    0.38
    evidence rules-v4
    Link in episode "Controlling Tools or Aligning Creatures? Emmett Shear (Softmax) & Séb Krier (GDM), from a16z Show": https://cognitiverevolution.ai/
  • references tasklet.ai website
    0.38
    evidence rules-v4
    Link in episode "Controlling Tools or Aligning Creatures? Emmett Shear (Softmax) & Séb Krier (GDM), from a16z Show": https://tasklet.ai/
  • references S26 Tcr website
    0.38
    evidence rules-v4
    Link in episode "Controlling Tools or Aligning Creatures? Emmett Shear (Softmax) & Séb Krier (GDM), from a16z Show": https://matsprogram.org/s26-tcr

concepts 9

  • mentioned Society & Culture concept
    0.50
    evidence rules-v4
    Feed category: Society & Culture
  • mentioned Technology concept
    0.50
    evidence rules-v4
    Feed category: Technology
  • mentioned Business concept
    0.50
    evidence rules-v4
    Feed category: Business
  • mentioned Entrepreneurship concept
    0.50
    evidence rules-v4
    Feed category: Entrepreneurship
  • discusses Society & Culture concept
    0.40
    evidence rules-v4
    Feed category: Society & Culture
  • discusses Technology concept
    0.40
    evidence rules-v4
    Feed category: Technology
  • discusses Business concept
    0.40
    evidence rules-v4
    Feed category: Business
  • discusses Entrepreneurship concept
    0.40
    evidence rules-v4
    Feed category: Entrepreneurship
  • mentioned GDM concept
    0.35
    evidence rules-v4
    GDM

podcasts 2

  • 0.90
    evidence rules-v4
    Link in episode "Controlling Tools or Aligning Creatures? Emmett Shear (Softmax) & Séb Krier (GDM), from a16z Show": https://podcasts.apple.com/de/podcast/the-cognitive-revolution-ai-builders-researchers-and/id1669813431
  • 0.77
    evidence rules-v4
    Link in episode "Controlling Tools or Aligning Creatures? Emmett Shear (Softmax) & Séb Krier (GDM), from a16z Show": https://podcasts.apple.com/de/podcast/the-cognitive-revolution-ai-builders-researchers-and/id1669813431

persons 2

companys 2

  • mentioned Turpentine company
    0.70
    evidence rules-v4
    Feed author/publisher: Turpentine
  • hosted by Turpentine company
    0.40
    evidence rules-v4
    Feed author/publisher: Turpentine
Episode description as stored
Emmett Shear and Séb Krier debate whether today’s AI alignment paradigm—focused on control and instruction-following—is fundamentally flawed. PSA for AI builders: Interested in alignment, governance, or AI safety? Learn more about the MATS Summer 2026 Fellowship and submit your name to be notified when applications open: https://matsprogram.org/s26-tcr. They explore what changes if advanced AIs are better understood as beings with their own values, and why current control methods could drift toward something like slavery. The conversation dives into “organic alignment,” multi-agent simulations, evolving cooperation, and the possibility of AI moral standing as systems gain memory and continual learning. Sponsors: MATS: MATS is a fully funded 12-week research program pairing rising talent with top mentors in AI alignment, interpretability, security, and governance. Apply for the next cohort at https://matsprogram.org/s26-tcr Tasklet: Tasklet is an AI agent that automates your work 24/7; just describe what you want in plain English and it gets the job done. Try it for free and use code COGREV for 50% off your first month at https://tasklet.ai Agents of Scale: Agents of Scale is a podcast from Zapier CEO Wade Foster, featuring conversations with C-suite leaders who are leading AI transformation. Subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcasts Shopify: Shopify powers millions of businesses worldwide, handling 10% of U.S. e-commerce. With hundreds of templates, AI tools for product descriptions, and seamless marketing campaign creation, it's like having a design studio and marketing team in one. Start your $1/month trial today at https://shopify.com/cognitive CHAPTERS: (00:00) About the Episode (03:44) Defining organic AI alignment (14:48) Technical vs value alignment (Part 1) (19:55) Sponsors: MATS | Tasklet (22:56) Technical vs value alignment (Part 2) (Part 1) (31:34) Sponsors: Agents of Scale | Shopify (34:21) Technical vs value alignment (Part 2) (Part 2) (34:22) Labs, tools, and beings (43:22) AI personhood and consciousness (56:53) Safe futures and Softmax (01:04:17) Chatbots, mirrors, simulations (01:10:14) Doom, futures, and OpenAI (01:17:25) Outro PRODUCED BY: https://aipodcast.ing SOCIAL LINKS: Website: https://www.cognitiverevolution.ai Twitter (Podcast): https://x.com/cogrev_podcast Twitter (Nathan): https://x.com/labenz LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/nathanlabenz/ Youtube: https://youtube.com/@CognitiveRevolutionPodcast Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/de/podcast/the-cognitive-revolution-ai-builders-researchers-and/id1669813431 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6yHyok3M3BjqzR0VB5MSyk