Skype co-founder Jaan Tallinn on AI and the Singularity

Socrates /

Posted on: April 17, 2016 / Last Modified: November 25, 2018

Jaan Tallinn, co-founder of Skype and Kazaa, got so famous in his homeland of Estonia that people named the biggest city after him. Well, that latter part may not be exactly true but there are few people today who have not used, or at least heard of, Skype or Kazaa. What is much less known, however, is that for the past 10 years Jaan Tallinn has spent a lot of time and money as an evangelist for the dangers of existential risks as well as a generous financial supporter to organizations doing research in the field. And so I was very happy to do an interview with Tallinn.

During our 75 min discussion with Jaan Tallinn we cover a variety of interesting topics such as: a few quirky ways he sometimes introduces himself by; the conspiracy of physicists to save the world; how and why he got interested in AI and the singularity; the top existential risks we are facing today; quantifying the downsides of artificial intelligence and all-out nuclear war; Noam Chomsky‘s and Marvin Minsky‘s doubts we are making progress in AGI; how Deep Mind’s AlphaGo is different from both Watson and Deep Blue; my recurring problems with Skype for podcasting; soft vs hard take-off scenarios and our chances of surviving the technological singularity; the importance of philosophy…

As always you can listen to or download the audio file above or scroll down and watch the video interview in full. To show your support you can write a review on iTunesmake a direct donation or become a patron on Patreon.

 

Who is Jaan Tallinn?

Jaan Tallinn is a founding engineer of Skype and Kazaa. He is a co-founder of the Cambridge Centre for Existential Risk, Future of Life Institute, and philanthropically supports other existential risk research organizations. He is also a partner at Ambient Sound Investments, an active angel investor, and has served on the Estonian President’s Academic Advisory Board.

Browse More

Why I went Vegan

Our Future, AI and Veganism: 6 Reasons Why I Went Vegan

Socrates

It’s Ethics. Not Tech Ethics.

Dr. Martin Shaw

Modern Bard Dr. Martin Shaw: Be a Story-maker for Your Times

Kevin-Kelly-by-Christopher-Michel-7

Kevin Kelly on Wisdom and Excellent Advice for Living

Émile Torres Preview

Émile Torres on Transhumanism, Longtermism and Existential Risks

Nikolas Badminton on Facing Our Futures

Nikolas Badminton on Facing Our Futures: Futurism is Activism

Greatest Leadership Opportunity Preview

My NBF Contest Pitch: The Greatest Leadership Opportunity of the 21st Century

Massimo Pigliucci on Character and Virtue

Massimo Pigliucci on Story, Virtue, Character and AI