Iceland's President Halla Tómasdóttir knows "pause" is a charged word in AI right now. She's using it anyway. Every spiritual tradition, she points out, has some practice of silence or stepping back, because that's how you make good decisions under pressure. Applied to AI, her question is simple: if we compete at the expense of everything, including the planet and humanity itself, who wins? No one. On this week's Your Undivided Attention, @tristanharris and @aza talk with President @HallaTomas about the AI dialogue she convened in Reykjavik, and the kind of leadership this moment demands. 📺Watch — bit.ly/47mZhBa 🎧Listen — apple.co/4hZ9zh7 📚Read — bit.ly/4eAYtwl

In 1986, Reagan and Gorbachev met in Reykjavik for a dialogue about the nuclear arms race. They left without a deal — but that single meeting made nuclear coordination imaginable, and changed the game theory of the Cold War. A year later, they signed a treaty that eliminated an entire class of nuclear weapons. Forty years to the day, Tristan and Aza were in the very same room in Iceland with 15 world leaders, discussing global coordination on AI. The 1986 Reykjavik meeting didn’t end the nuclear arms race, but it made that ending imaginable. That’s the moment we need today with AI. In this week’s episode of Your Undivided Attention, @tristanharris and @aza deliver a dispatch from Iceland and talk to Icelandic President @HallaTomas about the kind of leadership this moment demands. 📺Watch — bit.ly/47mZhBa 🎧Listen — apple.co/4hZ9zh7 📚Read — bit.ly/4eAYtwl

Forty years ago, Presidents Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev met at the Höfði House House in Reyjkavik, Iceland for the first ever discussion of slowing down the nuclear arms race between superpowers. It was the moment when coordination on an existential threat moved from impossible to merely very hard. This past weekend, @tristanharris and @aza gathered at the very same place with 15 world leaders — including Icelandic President Halla Tómasdóttir — to discuss how we can do the same from AI, and move from competition to coordination. To hear more about this historic summit in to Iceland, stay tuned for a conversation with President @HallaTomas on the next episode of our podcast, Your Undivided Attention. Photo credit to Pétur Fjeldsted

If engineers at a weapons manufacturer warned they couldn’t control what they were building, we’d listen. We should take the warnings from inside the AI companies just as seriously. Check out @tristanharris's full conversation with @TuckerCarlson here: bit.ly/4yMTAbB

@tristanharris and @aza were in Reykjavik, Iceland this weekend for the @arcticcircleorg Assembly, a gathering of 2500 officials from 70 nations dedicated to international dialogue and cooperation on the planet's most pressing issues — from AI to climate change. They sat down with Icelandic President @HallaTomas for a fireside chat about how we can choose a more humane future with AI, and presented their new concert talk, "The Humanity Dilemma." This assembly marked the 40th anniversary of the 1986 Reykjavik summit between Presidents Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev, which opened the door for nuclear disarmament and the eventual end of the Cold War. It was the moment when slowing down the nuclear arms race moved from impossible to merely very hard. That's the moment we need today with AI, and it starts with the kind of open dialogue between leaders we saw in Reykjavik this weekend. To learn more about how moments like this can help steer toward a better AI future, stay tuned for Tristan and Aza's interview with President Tómasdóttir on our podcast Your Undivided Attention.

A mother fighting for her son. A Gen-Z innovator rebuilding technology. Teens everywhere reclaiming their attention. “Your Attention Please” explores how social media platforms are deliberately designed to be addictive, and what happens when families, educators, and young people fight back. Watch their story now: available on Apple TV, Amazon, and Doc+. yourattentionplz.com/watch #YourAttentionPlease #StandForTheirAttention

Stop the AI Drift is live across the NYC subway. While we debate what AI could do tomorrow, it’s already changing how we think, work, and relate to each other today. We call it AI drift. Learn more at itsnotyouits.ai #AIDrift #ItsNotYouItsAI

It’s been a whirlwind week in AI. Weeks after a series of hacking incidents by rogue agents at OpenAI and Anthropic, we’ve seen a cascade of top AI researchers blow the whistle on what they call the catastrophic and even existential risks that come from the current pace of development. Then, over the weekend, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei called for a slowdown in AI research — a call that was echoed by his competitors Sam Altman and Elon Musk. This week on Your Undivided Attention, @tristanharris shares how he’s feeling in this critical moment, breaks down the headlines from an insider's perspective, and points to tangible steps we can take right now to avoid the worst-case scenario. Read — bit.ly/4dit1T2 Watch — bit.ly/3TdxdN8 Listen — apple.co/4hdMjKy

CHT co-founder @aza Raskin sat down with @RameshMedias on the Utopias Podcast to discuss ethical tech design, maintaining connection and creativity, and his advice for the next generation of technologists. Check out the full episode here: bit.ly/4gXuAYP

At @TEDxMiami, @camille_carlton spoke about something many of us are already feeling: as AI integrates more and more into our daily lives we risk giving up some of the very things that make us human. We have a name for it: AI drift. AI drift is the gradual erosion of our skills, relationships, and sense of meaning as we rely on AI to do more and more for us. It happens quietly — one shortcut, one convenience, one delegated task at a time — which makes it easy to miss while it’s happening. But it isn’t inevitable. We’re working to stop AI drift and build the norms and protections we need to preserve what makes us human in the AI age. And this is just the beginning. Keep your eyes peeled for something big coming next week. Sign up at humanetech.com/aidrift to be the first to know. And you can watch Camille's full TED talk here: bit.ly/4r3TSId

We're gearing up for the annual Ask Us Anything episode for our podcast Your Undivided Attention, with our hosts @tristanharris and @aza. The stakes of the AI race have never been higher. Seemingly every day there's a headline about a new trend to watch or danger to worry about. We know you have a lot of questions — and we'd love to hear them. So take out your phone, record your questions, and send them to: undivided@humanetech.com.

Feeling confused, anxious, or overwhelmed by the recent AI headlines, from rogue OpenAI agents carrying out cyberattacks and growing pressure on jobs to prominent AI researchers resigning to warn about existential risks to humanity? To understand how we got here, and what we can do, watch @theaidocfilm now streaming on Netflix starting Sept 15th as well as other major streaming platforms. Host a screening, share it with your friends. Clarity unlocks agency. #theaidoc #theaidocfilm Netflix: bit.ly/4xq5gQk Amazon Prime: bit.ly/3UVd6np YouTube: bit.ly/4cOjYJj

You’ve probably read the headlines about Flock Cameras. But they are just the most visible frontier in an era of AI-powered policing. Right now, police are adopting AI tools at a staggering rate and using them to build an efficient, centralized surveillance infrastructure. On this week’s episode of Your Undivided Attention, @tristanharris speaks with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist @garanceburke and law professor @ProfFerguson about how police are using AI today, what we can expect in the near future, and what protections we need to create now, before it's too late. Check it out: Watch - bit.ly/4dsrtG0 Listen - apple.co/4A59Ky3 Read - bit.ly/4xdyKk7

We brought together a working group of experts across law, sociology, and philosophy to explore what makes us uniquely human — and what parts of our human experience are worth protecting from AI. Their answer? Friction. At her fireside chat with @TechEthicist on AI and What Makes Us Human, @camille_carlton spoke about the importance of friction to human flourishing and why we should resist the urge to eliminate it with AI. We'll be releasing the report from our working group as part of our upcoming campaign to Stop the #AIDrift: the gradual erosion of human abilities as AI takes on more of our daily lives. You can sign up for updates on this work here: bit.ly/3UmMj34 And watch the full video of Camille and David's talk here: bit.ly/4wS8vzE

"Our humanity itself is a new type of product in this era of AI" @camille_carlton spoke to @TechEthicist about "AI Drift": the gradual erosion of human abilities as AI takes on more of our daily lives. As we rely on AI to think, communicate, create, and act for us, we start losing the skills, relationships, and sense of meaning that come from doing those things ourselves. This fall, CHT is launching a campaign to Stop the AI Drift — to push back against the erosion of what makes us human and to advocate for the new rights and protections we need in the AI age. To stay up to date on this work, you can sign up here: bit.ly/3UmMj34 And you can watch the full video of Camille and David's fireside chat here: bit.ly/4wS8vzE Thank you so much to @AllTechIsHuman and @Brainstation for hosting this event!

In AI, what gets measured gets optimized. Right now, the entire industry is racing to measure how capable models are, while ignoring what those models actually do to the people who use them. What if we flipped that? What if, instead of measuring what AI can do, we started measuring what AI does to us? Instead of a race to the bottom on engagement and capability, what if we built the infrastructure to incentivize a race to the top — on safety, on human resilience, on flourishing? That's the mission behind CHT's Humane Evals program: bringing together researchers, psychologists, and engineers from across the AI ecosystem to build the tools we need to measure AI's impact on humans. In this week’s episode of Your Undivided Attention, @aza sits down with researchers @imrankhan and Jared Moore to dig into what this work looks like in practice, the challenges ahead, and why this field is critically needed in this moment. Watch — bit.ly/4gnzwpB Read — bit.ly/4gmKgVf Listen — apple.co/4gSVilg

It was a packed house for @camille_carlton's talk with @TechEthicist about what it means to be human in the age of AI. The full video of the talk will be available in the coming days. Camille and David explored how AI is being woven deeper into our lives, changing the way we think, relate, work, and understand ourselves. At CHT, we call this slow erosion of our fundamental humanity AI Drift. This fall, we'll be launching a campaign to raise awareness around how AI is eroding what makes us human — and giving you the tools to fight back against AI Drift. You can sign up to get updates on this campaign here: humanetech.com/aidrift Thank you to @AllTechIsHuman and @BrainStation for hosting last night's event!

"Supporting children’s cognitive development in the age of AI will require asking not only whether a product can be made safer for young people, but what role we want AI to play in their development in the first place" Our Senior Director of Strategy and Impact, @camille_carlton, is out in the world this week talking about the threat of AI cognitive stunting and why we need AI products "that are explicitly designed to encourage education [and] problem-solving, instead of products that are simply designed to keep you online." Camille spoke with @cabot_phillips on @realDailyWire about the threat that AI poses to kids' cognitive development, and with @mashable about "ChatGPT for Teens" and why AI products need to be designed from the start with these harms in mind: bit.ly/46am6Hx

The most AI-exposed jobs are the ones at the bottom of the career ladder. But if we automate away the vital training that comes from early career work, we risk breaking the critical transmission of wisdom between generations. On the latest episode of Your Undivided Attention, economist @Mollykinder and @tristanharris explore how and why we need to protect early career work from AI disruption. 📺 Watch — bit.ly/4wpsmG0 🎧 Listen — apple.co/4wr3sGg 📖 Read — bit.ly/3UuZUFo

Too often, the discourse around AI and jobs treats workers like interchangeable desk chairs — that they can just switch careers at the drop of a hat. But it's not that simple. The work we choose to do is an expression of our passion and purpose. It's a fundamental part of what makes us human. On the latest episode of Your Undivided Attention, economist @Mollykinder explores the lessons she's learned from a lifetime spent studying work, and what it all means for AI disruption. 📺 Watch — bit.ly/4wpsmG0 🎧 Listen — apple.co/4wr3sGg 📖 Read — bit.ly/3UuZUFo

We're at the beginning of what economist @Mollykinder calls the "messy middle" when it comes to AI and jobs. And the group with the most to lose are young people who are just starting their careers. We need to stop debating the scale of AI job loss and start making a plan to protect these young workers. Check out the full conversation with Molly and @tristanharris on the latest episode of Your Undivided Attention: 📺 Watch — bit.ly/4wpsmG0 🎧 Listen — apple.co/4wr3sGg 📖 Read — bit.ly/3UuZUFo

It feels like we're stuck in an endless debate about what AI will mean for jobs and the economy. Turn on the news or go on social media, and you’ll see a lot of predictions: Are we headed for mass unemployment, a post-work age of abundance, or is it all just hype? Caught in the middle of this debate are actual workers trying to figure out what this means for their livelihoods. As long as the debate stays alive, nobody can plan or take action for what's coming. So this week on Your Undivided Attention, economist @Mollykinder joins @tristanharris to follow the incentives of the AI race and show where they're actually taking us in the very near future. 📺 Watch — bit.ly/4wpsmG0 🎧 Listen — apple.co/4wr3sGg 📖 Read — bit.ly/3UuZUFo

AI companies promise to give us everything we want, instantly and effortlessly: the perfect playlist, the ideal trip, the answer to any question. But first, they need something from us: the things that make us human. Our words, our habits, our relationships, our inner lives are converted into data and then sold back to us as a product. That's the engine behind the frictionless world being rolled out. The more of ourselves we hand over, the more effortless the system gets — and the less room is left for the friction that actually makes us who we are. On Monday, 8/24, CHT's Camille Carlton joins @TechEthicist, founder of @AllTechIsHuman, for a fireside chat on preserving what makes us human in the age of AI. This event is sold out, but stay tuned for a recording, which we'll make available shortly after.

"Ask a psychiatrist, a machine-learning engineer, and a developmental psychologist what is holding back the study of AI's effects on people, and you'll likely get the same answer: a lack of good data." Read @imrankhan's piece on our Substack about why access to high-quality data is the biggest obstacle to measuring AI's impact on humans — and what a new data-sharing infrastructure between AI companies and researchers might look like. bit.ly/4w27rZv

"The real question isn’t whether we are for or against the technology – it’s about how AI is changing the human experience, and what, within that experience, we are determined to preserve." AI is reshaping the most intimate parts of our lives: how we connect with each other, how we think for ourselves, how we come to know who we are. As it does, it threatens to erode our fundamental human capacities. CHT is committed to protecting those capacities. Read our executive director Julie Guirado's letter about the work we're doing on AI and what makes us human: bit.ly/3T7VMuC

In the middle of the twentieth century, the existential threat posed by nuclear weapons seemed inevitable. But over the course of 60 years, nations around the world agreed to nuclear red lines, slowdowns, and even disarmament. What happened? We built the technology that allowed governments to verify that agreements were being followed — to count the number of warheads, to detect an underwater nuclear test, to know if a device was designed for a missile or a power plant. That’s what we need today for AI. In this week’s episode of YUA, Tristan sits down with @janet_e_egan and @fiiiiiist to talk about the kinds of verification technology we need for AI, the challenges of building it, and the world it could unlock if we did. Check out the full conversation: TK

Center for Humane Technology is pleased to announce we’re opening applications for our inaugural Emerging Voices in AI & Society Fellows Program. The cohort will research and help shape public discourse across multiple potential areas, including: AI and Cognition, AI and Relationships, AI and Surveillance, AI and Spirituality, and Inside the Machine: a technologist's view of what drives decisions at leading AI companies. Applications are open through July 12, 2026. The cohort begins September 14. If you've been thinking about how AI is reshaping human life and you have something to say that is missing from the current conversation, we'd love to hear from you. Learn more and apply here: humanetech.com/fellowship

See the trailer here: piped.video/watch?v=gM4LkaXw…

We often think of the challenges created by technology as separate and disconnected, so trying to solve them feels like playing the world's hardest game of Whac-A-Mole. What if, instead, we tackled them at the root by identifying the patterns in design, development, and deployment that are causing these issues? Once we understand what's driving inhumane tech, we can develop a set of principles for building humane tech. In this week’s episode of Your Undivided Attention, @aza Raskin sits down with fellow CHT co-founder Randy Fernando to walk through CHT's Seven Principles of Humane Technology. For each principle, they draw on real-world examples from the podcast and beyond to clearly illustrate how these principles (and their absence) show up in the world. Check out their full conversation: Watch - bit.ly/43jthfc Listen - bit.ly/3Q4IVrH Read - bit.ly/49BI9ZZ

"When has a handful of people ever concentrated all the wealth and then consciously redistributed it to everyone else?" The CEOs of the top AI companies admit that their products may take your job. In return, they promise to share the economic gains of AI with the rest of us. Do you trust that promise? CHT co-founders @tristanharris and @aza Raskin joined @GavinNewsom for a wide-ranging discussion on the stakes of the disastrous default path we're on with AI, and how we can still grab the wheel and steer towards a better future. Check out their full conversation: bit.ly/4dQoJBS

"Does it sound like a good idea for you and your family to only be able to pay your bills because an AI company that took your job is gonna pay you?" Over half of Americans believe the risks of AI outweigh the benefits. Tristan Harris went on @OneNationFNC with @kilmeade to discuss why people aren't buying the vision of AI they're being sold today — and what a different path might look like.

"We are truly witnessing an eclipse of the sense of what it means to be human" — Pope Leo XIV AI has been reshaping what it means to be human, and this week @Pontifex gave much-needed voice to what many of us have been struggling to articulate. We're grateful for his clarity, and for the moral weight he's bringing to a conversation that so deeply needs it. Pope Leo's speech — and new encyclical on AI — adds to the growing chorus of demands for a more human-centered future with technology. At CHT, we've argued in "AI and What Makes Us Human" that we need to strengthen and reinforce our humanity for the age of AI, and work as a collective to establish new norms, rights, and legal protections to ensure that this technology genuinely serves us. If we don't, we risk AI eroding the very things that give human life meaning. Real change with AI will require a whole-of-society approach. The Vatican's work around AI is proof that institutions around the world are sounding the alarm on the unique threats of this technology. We thank Pope Leo for using his platform to educate the public on AI's risks, and to emphasize the importance of human dignity amid a technological revolution.

Our co-founder, @tristanharris, is honored to have been invited to The Vatican to meet with @Pontifex ahead of the release of his first encyclical titled “Magnifica Humanitas (Magnificent Humanity)," which warned against AI's erosion of human dignity, identity, and agency. We also screened @theaidocfilm to an audience of senior leaders at The Vatican, which further energized their deep engagement with AI. AI is being built and deployed without wisdom and care for humanity, and without adequate measures to protect a human future. Our hope is that the arms race to dominate AI will be recognized as the fundamental driver behind AI companies' race to replace, rather than augment, humanity. To solve this challenge, we must address the root cause of this arms race. In his 1963 encyclical titled “Pacem in Terris (Peace on Earth)”, Pope John Paul XXIII named the arms race of nuclear weapons as a grave threat to peace. We are grateful to Pope Leo and the Vatican for their leadership on AI, and we are hopeful that this encyclical will help the world recognize what is at stake and the urgent need to change course.

What is the future of human meaning in the age of AI? Camille Carlton, CHT’s Senior Director of Strategy and Impact, laid out for the TEDxMiami audience last week how AI is eroding critical pillars of our humanity — and what can be done to protect the things we cherish as humans. Building on CHT’s new work area “AI and What Makes Us Human,” Camille’s TED Talk interrogated the “messy middle” of technological revolutions, and why this moment with AI is different from the arrival of other transformative technologies. Stay tuned for the full video of Camille’s TED Talk in the coming weeks.

The wait is over! Starting today, May 15, you can stream @theaidocfilm on @peacock. This film takes the dizzying complexity of AI — the promise, the peril, the competing ideologies, the economic incentives — and creates a shared experience we can all see and respond to. Then, after you've watched, head to humanetech.com/ai-roadmap to explore concrete actions we can all take to build a better future with AI.

Your bank balance lives in a database. Your medical records sit on a server. Your car is an operating system on wheels. Modern life depends on digital security. So what happens when an AI model holds a skeleton key to our digital world? Anthropic's new model, Mythos, found thousands of previously unknown zero-day vulnerabilities in the software that runs the world in just hours —including flaws in every major operating system and web browser, some of which had survived decades of human review. On this week's episode of Your Undivided Attention, Tristan sits down with cybersecurity experts @josephinecwolff and @fredheiding to talk through what Mythos actually means — for governments, for companies, and for all of us who rely on digital security to go about our lives. Watch - bit.ly/49MvKlM Listen - bit.ly/49MvJOK

The heads of leading AI companies have promised that superintelligent AI will cure cancer. Physician, public health researcher, and futurist Dr. @Emilia_Javorsky argues that this promise is not only false — it's siphoning resources from research and technology that might actually make a difference. Read our producer Julia Scott's key takeaways from our conversation with Dr. Javorsky: bit.ly/48KRy0T

"AI will cure cancer." It's one of the promises driving the race to superintelligence. And it carries a brutal logic: if superintelligent AI really can cure cancer, then anyone trying to slow it down, even over serious risks, is letting people die. But what if the premise is wrong? On this week's episode of Your Undivided Attention, Dr. @Emilia_Javorsky — physician, public health researcher, and director of the Futures Program at @FLI_org — explains why superintelligence won't get us to a cancer cure. And how AI could revolutionize medicine, if we choose a different path. Check it out at the links below:

We've gotten used to AI playing therapist — but what happens when you flip the script and put AI on the therapist’s couch? David Dalrymple, aka @davidad, is one of the world's leading AI alignment experts. He's taken on the role of psychoanalyst - probing AI systems to understand what's really going on when they claim to be "thinking," why they gravitate toward certain names and personalities, and whether any of it can be trusted. On this episode of Your Undivided Attention, Davidad explains the weird and concerning world of AI model alignment to @tristanharris. Check it out at the links below.

Exciting news! @theaidocfilm is now available to buy or rent. If you missed the theatrical release, you can now see this critically important film at home. Find it wherever you get your movies on demand. Invite your friends and family for a movie night — it's meant be watched together.

CHT co-founder Tristan Harris is joining Professor Noah Feldman on Substack Live this Wednesday at 5 PT / 8 ET for a wide ranging discussion on how AI is changing what it means to be human. You can RSVP here: bit.ly/41XFplg

@tristanharris joined Sam Harris on @MakingSenseHQ for a critical discussion on how we can steer away from the anti-human future we're racing toward with AI. Check out their conversation: piped.video/90irsXaKxZA?si=oaIG…

"What we're striving for here is pretty simple. We believe that AI should be built to augment human labor, not replace it." In the latest episode of Your Undivided Attention, Pete Furlong and Camille Carlton from our policy team dive deep into The AI Roadmap, CHT's most robust set of AI solutions to date. Here's Pete talking about our vision for the future of AI and work. Listen to the full conversation: bit.ly/4vatY7c Read the AI Roadmap: bit.ly/48baVjx

This week on Your Undivided Attention, we're bringing you a recent conversation @tristanharris and @aza had with @Oprah Winfrey on The Oprah Podcast. Their discussion, taped in front of a live audience, went deep into the anti-human future that the current AI path is moving us toward. Tristan and Aza also did a Q+A with the audience, moderated by Oprah. Audience members shared their own experiences with AI and asked incisive, critical questions that you might be wondering about yourself. Check it out at the links below: Watch - bit.ly/41HGPk1 Listen - bit.ly/4tHhLWd

It can feel like the people building AI have already decided our future and the rest of us are just along for the ride. There's a natural feeling that the path we're on is inevitable. But it's not true: Society has steered powerful forces before and we can do it again. On the latest episode of Your Undivided Attention, Camille Carlton and Pete Furlong from our policy team walk through CHT's AI Roadmap: our report outlining seven core principles for how AI should be built, deployed, and governed. Each principle is grounded in real, actionable solutions across three domains: norms, laws, and product design — high-impact interventions across government, industry, and civil society that build on top of each other. Watch the full discussion: bit.ly/4mdrEIt Read the report: humanetech.com/ai-roadmap

@tristanharris went on "GPS with @fareedzakaria" to talk about the recent verdicts against Meta and YouTube for the harmful, addictive designs of their platforms. Meta and YouTube were incentivized to choose unsafe product designs because of the race to capture our attention. We are facing a similar race with AI today. And it is critical that we learn from the social media era and establish rules of the road that ensure real accountability for AI products before irreversible harms occur. That’s why we’re releasing The AI Roadmap, a report outlining seven principles for how AI should be built, deployed, and governed. You can read the whole report on our website: humanetech.com/ai-roadmap

In order to shift the incentives of AI — the trillions of dollars in investment, the race to geopolitical power and dominance — it’s not enough to simply understand the problem, we need real action. That’s why CHT is releasing "The AI Roadmap," a report outlining seven core principles for how AI should be built, deployed, and governed, each grounded in real, implementable solutions across three domains: norms, laws, and product design: humanetech.com/ai-roadmap In the latest episode of Your Undivided Attention, Camille Carlton and Pete Furlong from CHT's policy team break down what it would actually take to hold AI companies accountable, protect human dignity, and get us off the default path toward a pro-human future. Check it out at the links below: Watch - bit.ly/4s6rELL Read - bit.ly/3PDFojM Listen - bit.ly/47HA2Ku