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What the Frontier Labs Know That We Don’t

October 15, 2026 · 49 min

Dwarkesh Patel is one of the most important voices in the artificial intelligence world. Deeply embedded in San Francisco’s tech community, he has interviewed nearly every tech chief executive at length.

This week’s guest host, Tyler Cowen, a professor of economics at George Mason University, sits down with Mr. Patel to discuss why researchers are resigning, whether A.I. could become conscious and if he’ll ever get an A.I. girlfriend.

Note: As we work on relaunching “Interesting Times,” the show will feature a series of guest hosts in the coming months.

  • 00:00 Intro
  • 01:31 What Inspired the “Dwarkesh Podcast”
  • 02:47 Documenting Wild Human History
  • 04:18 What The Public Doesn’t Understand About A.I.
  • 06:25 The Mood in San Francisco
  • 06:51 Dwarkesh Didn’t See This Coming
  • 09:08 Should More A.I. Researchers Resign?
  • 11:09 Unreleased Frontier Models
  • 13:26 Pausing A.I. 
  • 15:45 A.I. Psychosis & Consciousness
  • 21:14 What Tech Bros Do for Fun 
  • 23:50 Bay Area Culture
  • 24:06 A.I. Boyfriends v. Girlfriends
  • 26:02 Are A.I. Therapists Good?
  • 26:54 What Dwarkesh Got Wrong
  • 27:44 What’s The Next Big Thing?
  • 29:13 Robot Predictions
  • 30:26 What Jobs Are Safe?
  • 35:21 The Speed of A.I. Adoption
  • 37:12 Milestones To Watch
  • 42:58 What If 2035 Looks Normal?
  • 44:39 Dwarkesh In 2045
  • 46:27 Skepticism On A.I. Revenue
  • 48:01 How Podcasting Has Changed Dwarkesh

(A full transcript of this episode is available on the Times website.)

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