AI Summer

Timothy B. Lee and Dean W. Ball
  • 5.0 (10)
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • UPDATED WEEKLY

Tim Lee and Dean Ball interview leading experts about the future of AI technology and policy. www.aisummer.org

  1. 1D AGO

    AI safety in India, AV operators in the Philippines

    Dean recorded this episode as he was preparing to attend the India AI Impact Summit — the fourth iteration of an annual gathering that has transformed from an intimate AI Safety Summit with heads of state to something resembling a tech industry trade show. The shift in branding, from “safety” to “action” to “impact,” reflects a broader vibe shift in how elites talk about AI risk, and Dean worries that we may have overcorrected. Dean argues that the mainstream AI governance community is focused on the wrong priorities. While policymakers worldwide draft hundreds of bills on algorithmic discrimination and mental health chatbots, they’re ignoring the genuinely urgent questions about automated AI R&D and catastrophic risk. He supports SB53, California’s new responsible scaling policy law, but thinks the real gap is verification — we need something like financial auditing for AI safety commitments, not Twitter fights over whether OpenAI followed its own responsible scaling policy. The alternative, a Josh Hawley-style licensing regime run by the Department of Energy, strikes Dean as repeating the FDA’s mistakes. We also discuss a viral video clip of Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) grilling a Waymo executive about Philippines-based remote operators. Tim argues there are legitimate reasons to prefer U.S.-based operators for safety-critical roles. The episode closes with a question that haunts both of us: are we too wealthy and comfortable to tolerate the messiness of another industrial revolution? This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.aisummer.org

    1h 4m

  2. FEB 8

    Dean is back!

    Dean Ball is back. In April 2025, Dean left the podcast to join the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, where he spent four months working on the Trump administration’s AI policies—including executive orders, the AI action plan, and AI geopolitics. He’s since returned to independent writing and research, and at the end of 2025, he and his wife welcomed their first child. In this episode, we catch up on what’s changed in AI over the past ten months. Dean makes the case that coding agents like Claude Code represent something close to digital AGI: models that can reliably do pretty much anything a human can do on a computer, as long as you know what to ask. He describes projects he’s built—from automated state legislation monitoring to due diligence reports on real estate—that would have been impossible a year ago. Tim is more measured, noting that users still provide crucial architectural guidance and that the models still struggle with long-horizon planning. The conversation turns to what happens when AI starts automating AI research itself. Dean expects significant speedups as models take over routine experimentation and code-writing at frontier labs, but he’s skeptical of the “intelligence explosion” scenario. We discuss why the physical world keeps fighting back against exponential improvement, why discoveries follow heavy-tailed distributions, and why—despite all the hype—the world probably won’t feel fundamentally different by June. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.aisummer.org

    1 hr
  3. Dean Ball is leaving the podcast

    04/16/2025

    Dean Ball is leaving the podcast

    This week Dean began a new job: senior policy advisor for AI in the Trump White House. I will miss having him as a co-host and wish him the best in his new role. In this episode, recorded last Friday, we speculate about how AI could change the world over the next 25 to 50 years. We discuss what makes human beings unique, whether humans can maintain control, and how we’ll find meaning in an increasingly automated world. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.aisummer.org

    58 min
  4. Charles Yang on AI and Science

    04/07/2025

    Charles Yang on AI and Science

    This week, Dean and Tim talk to Charles Yang, a former staffer at the Department of Energy who now writes the Rough Drafts newsletter. Tim has written extensively about AI in science, concentrating especially on the potential of AI to transform materials science. His work has focused not just on models, but on building robotic, “self-driving” labs to accelerate scientific research. The conversation touches on the latest AI advancements in science, how AI models do and do not help scientists, and what might be coming next. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.aisummer.org

    1h 2m
  5. James Grimmelmann on the copyright threat to AI companies

    03/19/2025

    James Grimmelmann on the copyright threat to AI companies

    James Grimmelmann is a professor of law at Cornell University and a leading expert on copyright law. Grimmelmann walks through the complex process courts use to determine whether training AI models on copyrighted materials—like OpenAI using New York Times articles—is infringement or fair use. He highlights key precedents like the Google Books case, emphasizing how courts weigh transformative uses against potential market harms. The discussion addresses the nuances of generative AI, notably cases where models inadvertently reproduce large excerpts from training materials. Grimmelmann argues that while the industry has largely addressed explicit "regurgitation," ambiguity remains around subtler forms of copying, particularly with image-generating models, which could substantially impact copyright holders like Getty Images. Grimmelmann and the hosts delve into potential legal outcomes, including moderate rulings that force licensing agreements, or harsher ones that could significantly restrict the availability of open-source AI models. The interview also touches on Congress's historical reluctance to intervene in contentious digital copyright issues, leaving critical decisions to be gradually shaped by court rulings. Dean and Tim conclude that while an outright shutdown of generative AI by courts is improbable, the forthcoming legal decisions will likely reshape the industry's structure, potentially favoring larger companies capable of negotiating extensive licensing deals. Grimmelmann anticipates initial district court rulings within the year and appellate decisions by 2026, setting the stage for a pivotal shift in how AI companies use copyrighted works. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.aisummer.org

    53 min
  6. Andrew Lee on running an AI email startup

    02/27/2025

    Andrew Lee on running an AI email startup

    Andrew Lee is the co-founder of Shortwave, an AI-powered email app. He’s also Tim’s brother. Andrew shares how Shortwave evolved from a conventional email app into a multi-LLM system that automates inbox organization, drafts messages, and performs advanced search via agentic reasoning. He explains how recent improvements in model performance have dramatically changed what is possible for an app like Shortwave. He discusses which models Shortwave uses, the tradeoffs between open and closed models, and where AI-powered email is going next. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.aisummer.org

    1h 1m

  7. 02/21/2025

    Dean and Tim on Deep Research and the Paris Summit

    In this episode, Dean and Tim discuss Dean’s trip to Paris for the AI Action Summit, including Vice President Vance’s speech on AI. They talk through the European outlook on AI regulation, European resentment toward America, and the stark shift in policymaker attitudes toward AI safety. Then they turn to OpenAI’s new Deep Research agent, chatting about their experience with the product and reflecting on what it means for the future of policy research. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.aisummer.org

    1h 3m
  8. Kashmir Hill on falling in love with ChatGPT

    02/12/2025

    Kashmir Hill on falling in love with ChatGPT

    Kashmir Hill is a reporter at the New York Times who focuses on the social impacts of new technology. In this episode, she describes how users are customizing chatbots like ChatGPT to fulfill emotional and even erotic needs, often bypassing built-in safeguards. These fantasy conversations are usually harmless, but there are potential pitfalls—especially where children are involved. Kashmir also discusses about how policymakers should deal with the emergence of uncannily accurate facial recognition technology. "She Is in Love With ChatGPT" by Kashmir Hill in the New York Times, 2025. Your Face Belongs to Us. Book by Kashmir Hill published in 2023. "The Secretive Company That Might End Privacy as We Know It" by Kashmir Hill in the New York Times, 2020. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.aisummer.org

    52 min
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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
10 Ratings

About

Tim Lee and Dean Ball interview leading experts about the future of AI technology and policy. www.aisummer.org

Information

  • Creator
    Timothy B. Lee and Dean W. Ball
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    16
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Timothy B. Lee
  • Show Website
    AI Summer

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