# The journalist who saw the AI threat coming Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/connections-podcast-736335/the-journalist-who-saw-the-ai-threat-coming Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/connections-podcast-736335/the-journalist-who-saw-the-ai-threat-coming.md Podcast: [Connections Podcast](https://stenobird.com/podcast/connections-podcast-736335) Published: 2026-05-11T17:00:00+00:00 Episode link: https://play.prx.org/listen?ge=prx_11479_4b89b3fa-5aab-43e7-a86b-90c7d7e9c61d&uf=https%3A%2F%2Fpublicfeeds.net%2Ff%2F11479%2Ffeed-rss.xml Audio file: https://dovetail.prxu.org/11479/4b89b3fa-5aab-43e7-a86b-90c7d7e9c61d/Connections-Monday-Hr1-5.11.26.mp3 Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/connections-podcast-736335/episodes/the-journalist-who-saw-the-ai-threat-coming Duration seconds: 3070 ## Resource Back in 2014, James Barrat got mixed reviews for his book, "Our Final Invention: Artificial Intelligence and the End of the Human Era." He was one of the first guests on "Connections," and he posed a scenario that might have seemed far-fetched at the time: What if AI surpasses human intelligence in the next decade? Twelve years later, Barrat looks prescient, and he’s working on his next book. We welcome him back to discuss how long he thinks the human era can still persist. Our guest: James Barrat, documentary filmmaker and author of "Our Final Invention: Artificial Intelligence and the End of the Human Era" --- Connections is supported by listeners like you. Head to our donation page to become a WXXI member today, support the show, and help us close the gap created by the rescission of federal funding. --- Connections airs every weekday from noon-2 p.m. Join the conversation with questions or comments by phone at 1-844-295-TALK (8255) or 585-263-9994, email , Facebook or Twitter . Connections is also livestreamed on the WXXI News YouTube channel each day. You can watch live or access previous episodes here . --- Do you have a story that needs to be shared? Pitch your story to Connections . ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/connections-podcast-736335/episodes/the-journalist-who-saw-the-ai-threat-coming/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/connections-podcast-736335/the-journalist-who-saw-the-ai-threat-coming.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.