# "Selective Optimism: a critique of AI 2040" by Richard_Ngo

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/lesswrong-curated-popular-5643401/selective-optimism-a-critique-of-ai-2040-by-richard-ngo
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/lesswrong-curated-popular-5643401/selective-optimism-a-critique-of-ai-2040-by-richard-ngo.md
Podcast: [LessWrong (Curated & Popular)](https://stenobird.com/podcast/lesswrong-curated-popular-5643401)
Published: 2026-07-10T14:15:20+00:00
Episode link: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2037297/episodes/19474757-selective-optimism-a-critique-of-ai-2040-by-richard_ngo.mp3
Audio file: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2037297/episodes/19474757-selective-optimism-a-critique-of-ai-2040-by-richard_ngo.mp3
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Duration seconds: 950

## Resource

Some context for this post: I’ve been working part-time as a consultant for the AI Futures Project over the last year. Most of the work I’ve done for them has involved critiquing and suggesting improvements for their AI 2040 scenario—some of which were addressed, and some of which weren’t. To their credit, they asked me to write up my remaining critiques into a post that would accompany its launch. In the rest of this post I’ll discuss my three biggest high-level criticisms of AI 2040. Bef...

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## Transcript

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