Welcome back. The main thing happening today is the launch of Apple's first foldable phone. Plus, our new op-ed section kicks off with Luke's thoughts on AI's prisoner's dilemma. Live from 12–3 BST. Here's your Order of Play.
OP-ED | Luke Knight — AI's Prisoner's Dilemma
Ronan and I spoke a lot yesterday about the Prisoners Dilemma that we first saw on the timeline from @chelsssseeeea. She said that AI is probably the biggest prisoners dilemma that humans have ever created. We agreed. But we were discussing how far it has to go before we reach the crescendo that everyone is worried about. Everyone knows that slowing down is probably safer but the commercial (between Anth and OAI) and sovereign implications with China potentially rushing ahead means no one really can stop.
@chelsssseeeea says it’s a race to the bottom. Last week there were clear warning signs for potential catastrophic implications with moving forward on the development of the frontier. That puts everyone in a limbo - the warning signs are clear but no one can stop. Ronan and I were discussing that right now warning signs don’t mean catastrophic implications.
But how close are we to falling over the edge - where the changes and developments are irreversible? The labs are calling this recursive self-improvement - AI acts, evaluates and improves itself autonomously. Yesterday Ronan made comparisons to the development of the Atomic bomb. Until a catastrophic event, the labs will probably not stop because the stakes of losing are far too high.
— Luke
WHAT’S HAPPENING TODAY
Apple finally has a foldable iPhone.
At his first product launch as CEO, John Ternus introduced the iPhone Duo. It is the biggest change to the iPhone in almost two decades. Unfolded, its 7.6-inch display is roughly the size of an iPad Mini, while still folding down small enough to fit in your pocket.
Tim Cook sat in the front row and appeared in the opening video, passing the “main character” baton to his successor. One of the biggest criticisms of the Cook era was that Apple had stopped introducing genuinely new products. Ternus began his tenure by unveiling one of the company’s most ambitious devices in years, a product he had helped lead the development of as head of hardware.
Ternus described the iPhone as the “personal hub” for AI, with the revamped, Google Gemini-powered Siri. The bigger question is whether any of this will get people upgrading. The iPhone accounts for roughly half of Apple’s $210 billion in annual sales. The duo is expensive to make, and is expected to sell around 10 million units a year compared with roughly 250 million iPhones.
We're getting into all of it on today's show at 12 BST.
YESTERDAY’S MOMENT
Replit CEO Amjad Masad joined the boys in the studio following the opening of their London office this week.
Amjad explained how some of the people building AI have lost perspective on it. "I think they're having AI psychosis," he said. "They're living in it and breathing it and believing in it so much that when they see new capabilities emerge, they extrapolate so quickly."
"Dario said 25% of entry jobs are going to be gone now… two years later, and there's more jobs than ever." For Amjad, it's a reason to be more sceptical of what the labs say about the future: "This is a person suffering from AI psychosis. I need to temper how I read what they say."
He also got into plenty more, from coding on borrowed computers in Jordanian internet cafes, to his management rule ("when you see a committee, kill it immediately"), to whether AI-run "factories without engineers" can be trusted at scale.
Watch the full clip below.
YESTERDAY’S BANGER OF THE DAY
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