Ben Thompson Calls US AI Win Problematic
Discussing AI race dynamics with China on Patrick O'Shaughnessy's podcast.
Ben Thompson told Patrick O'Shaughnessy that a US victory in the AI race would prove very problematic. He outlined a scenario in which American control of AI produces decisive military superiority. Thompson said China's game theory optimal response in that case would be to blow up TSMC. He pointed to a disconnect between such risks and much of the public rhetoric on the topic. The remarks surfaced in posts sharing clips and summaries from the interview.
Ben Thompson on @patrick_oshag pod: "I think it would be very problematic for the US to win. Let's say we take the most fantastical scenario where if you control AI, your military is better than anyone else. Somehow it fixes our manufacturing, all these things that I don't…
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14 postsMy conversation with @benthompson. Ben has been writing Stratechery for over a decade and remains one of my favorite business thinkers. We covered a lot. Every important company in the industry and the forces acting on all of them. - Why he thinks it would be problematic for…
Ben Thompson: "I think it would be very problematic for the US to win the AI race." "Take the scenario, where if you control AI, your military is better than anyone else's. What is the game theory optimal response of China? To blow up TSMC. There's a fundamental disconnect…
My conversation with @benthompson. Ben has been writing Stratechery for over a decade and remains one of my favorite business thinkers. We covered a lot. Every important company in the industry and the forces acting on all of them. - Why he thinks it would be problematic for…
a decent metaphor for all this stuff is nonproliferation research spent decades getting very good at “left of boom” while refusing to build coherent theories of “right of boom,” ie the world after deterrence fails we're roughly in the same place with "right of winning AGI"
Ben Thompson: "I think it would be very problematic for the US to win the AI race." "Take the scenario, where if you control AI, your military is better than anyone else's. What is the game theory optimal response of China? To blow up TSMC. There's a fundamental disconnect…
there are transformative things that will happen depending on where and how the take-off occurs first, but if you genuinely believe things as millenarian as "RSI in US means we carpet bomb taiwan" i would encourage closer reflection on the nature of government
@WillManidis I am not sure I’m following but I don’t think necessarily think that? I was referring to clear military finance which I stated was unlikely. I also said bomb TSMC, not carpet bomb Taiwan
"I think we should be going the other direction. More openness, more innovation, less top-down control, less restrictions on speech and things along those lines. America succeeds by being on the leading edge and by leaning into that." ~@benthompson
My conversation with @benthompson. Ben has been writing Stratechery for over a decade and remains one of my favorite business thinkers. We covered a lot. Every important company in the industry and the forces acting on all of them. - Why he thinks it would be problematic for…
