Startup Europe — The Sifted Podcast

Carissa Véliz on the dangers of predictive AI

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0:00 | 32:44

In this episode of the Sifted podcast, host John Thornhill sits down with Carissa Véliz, AI ethicist, philosopher and associate professor at Oxford University to explore how algorithms and data are reshaping our lives and workplaces. 

Carissa's latest book, Prophecy: Prediction, Power, and the Fight for the Future, describes how ancient oracles, medieval soothsayers and modern-day AIs all tend to tell the powerful what they want to hear. What does that mean, for example, when we apply AIs to hiring and firing decisions at our companies or VCs?

John and Carissa also explore whether tech giants are capable of meaningful self-regulation and what it would look like to build AIs that work for people rather than surveil them.

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