The race no one can win: AI’s anti-human crisis, with Aza Raskin

The race to superintelligent AI isn't just a technological sprint—it's a self-destructive feedback loop driven by perverse incentives that prioritize speed over safety, human well-being, and collective survival. Aza Raskin, co-founder of the Center for Humane Technology, argues that the current trajectory isn't inevitable, but a choice shaped by corporate and geopolitical competition that treats humans as expendable. Drawing parallels to social media’s corrosive evolution, he warns that AI’s 'race to the bottom' will produce an anti-human future where capital automates itself, labor is rendered obsolete, and power concentrates in the hands of a few. Yet, he insists that change is possible—not through utopian idealism, but through clear-eyed recognition of the danger, coordinated action, and the courage to say 'no' to runaway acceleration. The moment of truth, he says, isn't when AI becomes sentient, but when enough people realize that we’ve already lost the race to common sense—and decide to rewire the incentives before it’s too late.