When intelligence becomes abundant, what happens to humanity’s purpose?

Andy Mills, the co-founder of The New York Times’ The Daily and creator of The Last Invention, joins us on this episode of Digital Disruption.

Andy is a reporter, editor, podcast producer, and co-founder of Longview. His most recent series, The Last Invention, explores the AI revolution, from Alan Turing’s early ideas to today’s fierce debates between accelerationists, doomers, and those focused on building the technology safely. Before that, he co-created The Daily at The New York Times and produced acclaimed documentary series including Rabbit Hole, Caliphate, and The Witch Trials of J.K. Rowling. A former fundamentalist Christian from Louisiana and Illinois, Andy now champions curiosity, skepticism, and the transformative power of listening to people with different perspectives, values that shape his award-winning journalism across politics, terrorism, culture wars, technology, and science.

Andy sits down with Geoff to break down the real debate shaping the future of AI. From the “doomers” warning of existential risk to the accelerationists racing toward AGI, Andy maps out the three major AI camps influencing policy, economics, and the future of human intelligence. This conversation explores why some researchers fear AGI, why others believe it will save humanity, how job loss and automation could reshape society, and why 2025 is becoming an “AI 101 moment” for the public. Andy also shares what he’s learned after years investigating OpenAI, Anthropic, xAI, and the people behind the AGI race.

If you want clarity on AGI, existential risk, the future of work, and what it all means for humanity, this is an episode you won’t want to miss.

In this episode:

00:00 Intro

01:00 The three camps of AI: doom, acceleration, scouts

05:00 Why skeptics aren’t driving the AI debate

07:00 Job loss, productivity & “good” vs. “bad” disruption

09:00 Existential risk & why scientists are sounding alarms

12:00 The origins of doomers and accelerationists

17:00 How AI debates escalated after ChatGPT

22:00 Why 2025 is an AI “101 moment” for the public

24:00 The tech stack wars: OpenAI, Anthropic, xAI

28:00 Why leaders joined the AI race

30:00 The accelerationist mindset

33:00 Contrarians, symbolists & the forgotten history of AI

39:00 Big Tech, branding & why AI CEOs avoid open conflict

42:00 The closed group chats of AI’s elite builders

46:00 Sci-Fi narratives vs. real-world intelligence risks

52:00 The AI bubble & why adoption is unlike any tech before

01:00:00 Are we entering a wright-brothers-to-moon-landing era?

01:10:00 What AGI means for capitalism, work & purpose

01:18:00 Why public debate needs to start now

01:20:00 What happens next

Connect with Andy:

Website: https://www.andymills.work/about

Visit our website: https://www.infotech.com/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=podcast

Follow us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@InfoTechRG