Almost immediately following the 2022 introduction of ChatGPT, torrents of articles and news reports unleashed a gamut of responses to a new thing called “generative AI.” The barrage of narratives was contradictory, often sensationalistic, and far from elucidating. In this session, four leading proponents for the careful analysis of radical new technologies will share their expertise and perspectives on this incredibly important and urgent topic. Author and podcaster of “Tech Won’t Save Us,” Paris Marx will discuss how Silicon Valley’s AI obsession is accelerating the push to build hyperscale data centers around the world, which have an insatiable appetite for immoral volumes of energy, water, and resources, and why recent developments from China’s DeepSeek won’t change that. Argentinian anthropologist Soledad Vogliano will explore why having nontransparent “black box” AI determining the management of our food systems and biodiversity is a bad idea. Author, journalist and lawyer Claire Cummings will talk about why AI, like biotechnology, will never be meaningfully regulated and why that matters. And author and co-founder of the Tech Critics Network, Koohan Paik-Mander (who will also host/moderate) will speak about how the plan to deploy AI in government and industry will require an immense national, democracy-killing surveillance/extraction infrastructure.