Do we need to build God to cure cancer?

AI companies keep promising it will cure cancer. But what does that actually mean — and would an AI capable of doing it be one we'd want to live alongside? Jerusalem Demsas and Kelsey Piper debated the question live in San Francisco, in front of a crowd of researchers, investors, and skeptics who had plenty to say about it. One of them is going to be very wrong. Listen and judge for yourself. (0:00) Is the AI trade-off worth it? (3:54) Are small wins good enough? (10:27) What woul...

AI companies keep promising it will cure cancer. But what does that actually mean — and would an AI capable of doing it be one we'd want to live alongside? Jerusalem Demsas and Kelsey Piper debated the question live in San Francisco, in front of a crowd of researchers, investors, and skeptics who had plenty to say about it. One of them is going to be very wrong. Listen and judge for yourself.

(0:00) Is the AI trade-off worth it? 
(3:54) Are small wins good enough? 
(10:27) What would it mean for AI to cure cancer? 
(15:22) AlphaFold: Speeding up the chemistry of life 
(16:40) Did ChatGPT cure a dog's cancer? 
(31:10) Anthropic and the "Build God" strategy 
(34:38) Audience Q&A
(43:50) Jerusalem and Kelsey respond

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The Argument is produced by Justin Zuckerman, fact-checked by Eli Richman, with music by Breakmaster Cylinder and art by Ben Tousley.