OpenAI’s Two-Week Pause + Jill Lepore on the Threat of the “Artificial State” + Train of Thought

Hard Fork covers OpenAI’s pause on training new AI models while it reviews security, with the hosts asking whether other labs will also hit the brakes. Historian Jill Lepore joins to discuss her new book The Rise and Fall of the Artificial State, which she describes as the rule of humans by machines manufactured by corporations. The episode also examines Google’s $10 million purchase of defunct Spirit Airlines’ business data and introduces a new segment called Train of Thought. Additional reporting covered in the episode traces old workplace messages and even rare books becoming AI training data.