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Podcast Episode

Forum Plus - The Race for Superintelligence: A Conversation with Sebastian Mallaby

The Forum with Jim Falk··20 September 2026·55 min

About this episode

Sebastian Mallaby, senior fellow for global economics at the Council on Foreign Relations, joins Jim Falk for a conversation about his recent New York Times bestseller, The Infinity Machine, and the extraordinary race to develop artificial intelligence.Mallaby takes us inside the world of one of the most important AI pioneers, Demis Hassabis, whose ambition to build machines capable of human-level intelligence helped transform what once seemed like science fiction into one of the defining technological revolutions of our time.Their conversation explores the promise and risks of increasingly powerful AI, the intense competition among companies and nations, and whether the world can develop safeguards, including some form of AI nonproliferation, before the technology moves beyond our ability to control it.  Host:               Jim FalkGuest:              Sebastian Mallaby, Paul A. Volcker Senior Fellow for International Economics;Author, The Infinity Machine: Demis Hassabis, DeepMind and the Quest for Superintelligence