Starcast Join the waitlist
Impolitic with John Heilemann

Impolitic with John Heilemann

Nitasha Tiku: Self-Regulation, Rogue Agents & Mainstreaming the AI Apocalypse

Oct 2, 2026 · 1h 21m

Coming soon to iPhone. Already have it? “Listen in Starcast” takes you straight there.

On this episode

About this episode

John welcomes Washington Post tech culture reporter Nitasha Tiku to discuss this mind-blowing, deeply unnerving moment in the evolution of AI. Tiku explains the genesis of the fears that the systems being developed by the AI frontier labs could ultimately end the human race; how AI extinction scenarios migrated from fringe Bay Area subcultures into the labs themselves, then into elite institutions, and now to the center of the mainstream political and cultural discourse; how the labs are confronting the ethical and moral implications of what they’re building; and why, when it comes to the debate over AI regulation, we should focus less on what industry leaders are saying and more on what…