Munk Dialogue with AI Debaters Yann Lecun, Max Tegmark, Melanie Mitchell and Yoshua Bengio

07/04/23 • 67 min

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On June 22nd we gathered at Toronto’s Roy Thomson Hall for a live, sold out debate on Artificial Intelligence. We were joined on stage by four AI experts and pioneers to debate the resolution Be it Resolved, AI research and development poses an existential threat. MIT’s Max Tegmark and Mila’s Yoshua Bengion argued in favour of the resolution, while Meta’s Yann Lecun and the Santa Fe Institute's Melanie Mitchelll argued against it. In this episode of the Munk Dialogues, we bring you the pre-interviews our host Rudyard Griffiths conducted with each debater prior to the debate. How did they intend to argue their case? What made them want to take part in this event? And what is it about AI that has them most worried, or alternatively, most excited?

The host of the Munk Debates is Rudyard Griffiths - @rudyardg.

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This podcast is a project of the Munk Debates, a Canadian charitable organization dedicated to fostering civil and substantive public dialogue - https://munkdebates.com/

Senior Producer: Ricki Gurwitz

Editor: Kieran Lynch

The host of the Munk Debates is Rudyard Griffiths - @rudyardg.

Tweet your comments about this episode to @munkdebate or comment on our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/munkdebates/

To sign up for a weekly email reminder for this podcast, send an email to [email protected].

To support civil and substantive debate on the big questions of the day, consider becoming a Munk Member at https://munkdebates.com/membership

Members receive access to our 10+ year library of great debates in HD video, a free Munk Debates book, newsletter and ticketing privileges at our live events.

This podcast is a project of the Munk Debates, a Canadian charitable organization dedicated to fostering civil and substantive public dialogue - https://munkdebates.com/

Senior Producer: Ricki Gurwitz

Editor: Kieran Lynch

Previous Episode

Friday Focus: Borat Coup – Affirmative Action

Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The show features Janice Gross Stein, the founding director of the Munk School of Global Affairs and bestselling author, in conversation with Rudyard Griffiths, Chair and moderator of the Munk Debates.

The following is a sample of the Munk Debates’ weekly current affairs podcast, Friday Focus.

On this week’s edition of the Friday Focus podcast, Janice and Rudyard start the show with a recap of the last week of events in Russia. What exactly happened? How will Putin respond to the biggest domestic crisis in his twenty-year-plus rule? And what should Ukraine and its Western allies take away from it all? On the back half of the show, exclusively for Munk donors, the conversation turns to the U.S. Supreme Court decision on ending affirmative action policies based on race at American universities. What are the implications of the ruling? Is there a better way for universities to select for the vast human potential in society today and not on the basis of race, class or test score performance?

Janice's Article in the Texas National Security Review: https://tnsr.org/2023/06/escalation-management-in-ukraine-learning-by-doing-in-response-to-the-threat-that-leaves-something-to-chance/

Rudyard's Article in The Hub: https://thehub.ca/2023-06-26/rudyard-griffiths-what-did-we-learn-from-russias-borat-coup/

This podcast is a project of the Munk Debates, a Canadian charitable organization dedicated to fostering civil and substantive public dialogue.

More information at www.munkdebates.com.

Next Episode

Friday Focus: Wither Europe? – Big Tech vs. Trudeau

The following is a sample of the Munk Debates’ weekly current affairs podcast, Friday Focus.

On this week’s edition of the Friday Focus podcast, Janice and Rudyard start the show with a discussion of the riots in France and what they say about the state of Europe as it heads into a key NATO meeting next week. How racially divided is France and other major European states? How do domestic divisions play into Europe’s ability to sustain Ukraine in its fight with Russia? The second half of the program explores the growing battle between Big Tech and the Government of Canada, who wants to see the former subsidize news and journalism in Canada through new legislation. Can Canada go on its own in its fight against two of the world’s most powerful companies? What is at stake for our democracy when the distribution of news is increasingly dependent on large technology platforms?

This podcast is a project of the Munk Debates, a Canadian charitable organization dedicated to fostering civil and substantive public dialogue.

More information at www.munkdebates.com.