The latest on AI panic — and whether it's justified

2026-09-18 · 15 min · episode 1554 · 15 entities

episode page audio

Asserted relationships

→ discusses News concept

0.40

evidence rules-v5
Feed category: News
→ discusses Science concept

0.40

evidence rules-v5
Feed category: Science
→ hosted by NPR company

0.40

evidence rules-v5
Feed author/publisher: NPR
→ discusses Life Sciences concept

0.40

evidence rules-v5
Feed category: Life Sciences
→ discusses Daily News concept

0.40

evidence rules-v5
Feed category: Daily News
→ discusses Nature concept

0.40

evidence rules-v5
Feed category: Nature
→ discusses Astronomy concept

0.40

evidence rules-v5
Feed category: Astronomy

Entities found in this episode

concepts 12

mentioned Science concept

0.50

evidence rules-v5
Feed category: Science
mentioned Life Sciences concept

0.50

evidence rules-v5
Feed category: Life Sciences
mentioned Daily News concept

0.50

evidence rules-v5
Feed category: Daily News
mentioned Nature concept

0.50

evidence rules-v5
Feed category: Nature
mentioned Astronomy concept

0.50

evidence rules-v5
Feed category: Astronomy
mentioned and whether it's justified concept

0.42

evidence rules-v5
The latest on AI panic — and whether it's justified
discusses News concept

0.40

evidence rules-v5
Feed category: News
discusses Science concept

0.40

evidence rules-v5
Feed category: Science
discusses Life Sciences concept

0.40

evidence rules-v5
Feed category: Life Sciences
discusses Daily News concept

0.40

evidence rules-v5
Feed category: Daily News
discusses Nature concept

0.40

evidence rules-v5
Feed category: Nature
discusses Astronomy concept

0.40

evidence rules-v5
Feed category: Astronomy

companys 3

mentioned NPR company

0.70

evidence rules-v5
Feed author/publisher: NPR
mentioned Anthropic company

0.62

evidence rules-v5
researcher at Anthropic
hosted by NPR company

0.40

evidence rules-v5
Feed author/publisher: NPR

Episode description as stored

AI is in the news again – for its potential to end civilization. A researcher at Anthropic resigned very publicly last week, citing concerns about the accelerating capabilities of AI and what he called “irresponsible” behavior from major AI companies Anthropic and OpenAI. Following his resignation, the leaders of both companies called for an internationally cooperative, industry-wide slowdown on advanced AI development. And Wednesday, OpenAI disclosed six more incidents of “unexpected or concerning model behavior” and debuted a new framework for reporting misalignments. So, given all these events, how worried should we be about the future of AI? And what safety measures are – or could be – set in place to safeguard humanity? NPR’s power and policy reporter Huo Jingnan reports. Interested in more science and technology news? Email us your question at shortwave@npr.org . Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org . See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy