The AI revolution has begun – the product of a seventy-year quest by scientists, mathematicians, and visionaries who set out to build machines that could think. But what began as a fringe idea has now become one of the most powerful forces of the 21st century. This is the story of that journey: its rivalries, its competing visions of utopia and apocalypse, and the race to build what may be humanity’s last invention.
Host Emma Pettit interviews Iain De Jong, Stephen Eide, Estela Lopez, Mark Horvath, and Traci Park about contrasting approaches to ending street homelessness.
17 Sept 2026TRANSCRIPT
Street Fight Part II: Cruel & Unusual
Emma Pettit interviews Estela Lopez and Kevin Cope about the legal battles transforming homelessness into a constitutional issue.
10 Sept 2026TRANSCRIPT
Street Fight Part I: Hobos, Bums, and the Homeless
Host Stephen Eide explores the modern emergence of homelessness and one woman's 1980s fight for her right to live on a New York City street corner in this interview.
20 Jul 2026TRANSCRIPT
Presenting: Book Keeper
Host Megan Phelps-Roper interviews herself as she explores ancient wisdom in the Book of Genesis, beginning with a story of betrayal and reconciliation.
16 Apr 2026TRANSCRIPT
Sam Altman’s Attacker, In His Own Words
Andy Mills interviews Daniel Alejandro Moreno-Gama about his motivations for attempting to harm Sam Altman and his beliefs on stopping AGI.
9 Apr 2026TRANSCRIPT
Wetwear
Reporter Greg Warner interviews Hon Weng Chong about his groundbreaking biological computer built from human neurons, exploring its potential for artificial intelligence and medical applications.
20 Feb 2026TRANSCRIPT
The AI Skeptics
Ed Zitron, Gary Marcus, and Arvind Narayanan share their skeptical views on AGI, dividing into camps that see AI as a con, a wrong path, or normal technology, in this interview episode.
27 Jan 2026TRANSCRIPT
“Build the AI Wall” with Steve Bannon
Host Andy Mills interviews Steve Bannon and Joe Allen about building an "AI Wall" to counter techno-feudalism and protect public autonomy.
19 Dec 2025TRANSCRIPT
Ezra Klein on the Uncertain Politics of A.I.
New York Times opinion columnist Ezra Klein discusses the uncertain politics of accelerating artificial intelligence and its societal implications in this interview.
20 Nov 2025TRANSCRIPT
EP 8: The Accelerationists
Host Gregory Warner interviews technologists like Reid Hoffman about the accelerationist movement's belief in expediting AI development as humanity's best chance for transcendence.
13 Nov 2025TRANSCRIPT
EP 7: The Scouts
Host Gregory Warner interviews game theorist Liv Boeree and philosopher William MacAskill about navigating the AI arms race towards a beneficial future.
6 Nov 2025TRANSCRIPT
EP 6: The AI Doomers
Host Gregory Warner interviews Nate Soares and Connor Leahy about their concerns regarding artificial superintelligence and its potential threat to humanity.
23 Oct 2025TRANSCRIPT
EP 5: Contact
Host Gregory Warner interviews Keach Hagey, Kevin Roose, Yoshua Bengio, and Geoffrey Hinton about the profound societal shifts and anxieties following ChatGPT's release.
16 Oct 2025TRANSCRIPT
EP 4: Speedrun
Host Gregory Warner interviews Karen Hao, Keach Hagey, Jasmine Sun, Yoshua Bengio, Kevin Roose, and Connor Leahy about the race to build artificial general intelligence and its unintended consequences.
9 Oct 2025TRANSCRIPT
EP 3: Playing the Wrong Game
What if the path to a true thinking machine was found not just in a lab… but in a game? For decades, AI’s greatest triumphs came from games: checkers, chess, Jeopardy. But no matter how many trophies it took from humans, it still couldn’t think. In this episode, we follow the contrarian scientists who refused to give up on a radical idea, one that would ultimately change how machines learn. But their breakthrough came with a cost: incredible performance, at the expense of understanding how it actually works.
THIS EPISODE FEATURES:
Yoshua Bengio, Liv Boeree, Geoffrey Hinton, Karen Hao, Keach Hagey, Jasmine Sun
LINKS:
Karen Hao’s book: Empire of AI
Keach Hagey's book: The Optimist
Liv Boeree's podcast: Win Win
CREDITS:
This episode of The Last Invention was reported and produced by Andy Mills, Gregory Warner, Andrew Parsons, Megan Phelps-Roper, Matthew Boll, Seth Temple Andrews, and Ethan Mannello. It is hosted by Gregory Warner
Music for this episode was composed by Scott Devendorf, Ben Lanz, Cobey Bienert, and Matthew Boll
The Last Invention artwork by Jacob Boll
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Thank you to our sponsors Ground News and FIRE
GROUND NEWS : Go to groundnews.com/invent to get 40% off unlimited access to global coverage of the stories shaping our world.
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2 Oct 2025TRANSCRIPT
EP 2: The Signal
In 1951, Alan Turing predicted machines might one day surpass human intelligence and 'take control.' He created a test to alert us when we were getting close. But seventy years of science fiction later, the real threat feels like just another movie plot.
THIS EPISODE FEATURES:
Connor Leahy, Max Tegmark, Robin Hanson, Karen Hao, Nick Bostrom, Sam Harris, and Justin Murphy
LINKS:
Karen Hao’s book “Empire of AI”
Nick Bostrom's book "Superintelligence"
CREDITS:
This episode of The Last Invention was reported and produced by Andy Mills, Gregory Warner, Andrew Parsons, Megan Phelps-Roper, Matthew Boll, Seth Temple Andrews, and Ethan Mannello. It is hosted by Gregory Warner
Music for this episode was composed by Scott Devendorf, Ben Lanz, Cobey Bienert, and Matthew Boll
The Last Invention artwork by Jacob Boll
Thank you to our sponsors Ground News and FIRE
GROUND NEWS
FIRE
This is a paid sponsorship link.
2 Oct 2025TRANSCRIPT
EP 1: Ready Or Not
A tip alleging a Silicon Valley conspiracy leads to a much bigger story: the race to build artificial general intelligence — within the next few years — and the factions vying to accelerate it, to stop it, or to prepare for its arrival.
FEATURING:
Mike Brock, Kevin Roose, Geoffrey Hinton, Connor Leahy, William MacAskill, Liv Boeree, Sam Harris, and Yoshua Bengio
LINKS:
Sam Harris 2016 TED Talk, Can We Build AI Without Losing Control Over It
Nick Bostrom's book Superintelligence
Sam Harris' Making Sense podcast
Center for AI Safety
PauseAI (Connor Leahy's organization)
Hard Fork podcast
Geoffrey Hinton’s resignation coverage: Why the “godfather of AI” left Google to warn about existential risk
William MacAskill's book What We Owe the Future
Eliezer Yudkowsky's book If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies
CREDITS:
This episode of The Last Invention was reported and produced by Andy Mills, Gregory Warner, Andrew Parsons, Megan Phelps-Roper, Matthew Boll, Seth Temple Andrews, and Ethan Mannello. It is hosted by Gregory Warner
Music for this episode was composed by Scott Devendorf, Ben Lanz, Cobey Bienert, and Matthew Boll
The Last Invention artwork by Jacob Boll
Thank you to our sponsors Ground News and FIRE
GROUND NEWS
FIRE
This is a paid sponsorship link.
15 Sept 2025TRANSCRIPT
Introducing: The Last Invention
For over seventy years, technologists have dreamed of building a true “thinking machine.” An artificial intelligence so powerful it would reshape every aspect of human life. Would it unlock unimaginable abundance? Or bring about our destruction?
Today, many of the people closest to the latest A.I. breakthroughs believe that moment has arrived. Some are walking away from their jobs to sound the alarm. Others argue it can’t be stopped, and the only choice is to unite as a society and try to get ready. Still others dismiss the fears, convinced we’re entering a thrilling new chapter of human history.
Who’s right? Why are some of the most informed minds so sharply divided? And how, exactly, did we get here?
Episode one drops soon. Stay tuned.
Inside a recent episode
Street Fight Part III: Can We End It?
Published 24 Sept 2026 · Transcript excerpt
[…] Let's take care of the first things first, which is let's get you a place of stability. And then let's focus on things like your mental health, your substance use, your connections to community, your natural supports, food and nutrition, all those sorts of things. […]
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