Reid Hoffman Wants Silicon Valley to'Stand Up' Against the Trump Administration The LinkedIn cofounder and frequent Trump target has a simple message for his peers: "Just speak up about the things that you think are true." Reid Hoffman doesn't do much in half measures. He cofounded LinkedIn, of course, and helped bankroll companies including Meta and Airbnb in their startup days. He has also fashioned himself, via books, podcasts, and other public appearances, as something of a public intellectual--a pro-capitalist philosopher who still insists that tech can be a force for good. Most recently, Hoffman has emerged as one of Silicon Valley's most prominent defenders of artificial intelligence . His newest book, 2025's, makes the case that AI won't diminish human capacity but will instead amplify it. Hoffman even relied on AI to make one of the most unconventional--and perhaps uncomfortable, depending on your view of AI-generated creativity--Christmas gifts I've heard of lately. Whatever you think of Hoffman's utopian views on AI, credit where due: He's also a very outspoken critic of President Trump--a rare trait in a tech world that's grown increasingly quiet, or cozy, when it comes to the cruelties of the US administration. Hoffman's overt political views haven't been without consequence: Trump has twice threatened to launch investigations into him, most recently calling on Attorney General Pam Bondi to dig into Hoffman's ties to Jeffrey Epstein . He has subsequently called for the government to release the Epstein files in full.) Despite those threats, Hoffman isn't pulling punches: When we sat down to tape this episode in mid-December, he readily called out the administration for degrading American government, criticized his peers for keeping their heads down, and urged Silicon Valley to stop pretending that neutrality is a virtue. If only more billionaires were saying it. So glad to have you here. I'm glad to be here. We like to start these conversations with some very fast questions. What's the hardest lesson you've ever had to learn? Probably when to give up.

Britons are concerned about AI's impact on the economy and jobs in particular. Britons are concerned about AI's impact on the economy and jobs in particular. TBI says poll data threatens Keir Starmer's ambition for UK to become artificial intelligence'superpower' The Tony Blair Institute warned that the poll findings threatened Keir Starmer's ambition for the UK to become an AI "superpower" and urged the government to convince the public of the technology's benefits. TBI commissioned a survey that found 38% of Britons see AI as an economic risk while 20% see it as an opportunity. The poll of more than 3,700 adults also showed that lack of trust was the biggest barrier to adoption.

By 2030, rapid technological advancements are expected to reshape humanity, unlocking abilities once confined to science fiction--from superhuman strength to enhanced senses. Robotic exoskeletons may soon allow people to lift heavy objects with ease, while AI-powered wearables, such as smart glasses and earbuds, could provide real-time information and immersive augmented reality experiences. Healthcare may be revolutionized by microscopic nanobots capable of repairing tissue and fighting disease from within the bloodstream, potentially extending human lifespans. Developers are also working on contact lenses with infrared vision and devices that allow users to "feel" digital objects, paving the way for entirely new ways to experience the world. Tech pioneers like former Google engineer Ray Kurzweil believe these innovations are early steps toward the merging of humans and machines, with brain-computer interfaces offering direct access to digital intelligence.

Google's AI "co-scientist" is based on the firm's Gemini large language models Google has unveiled an experimental artificial intelligence system that "uses advanced reasoning to help scientists synthesize vast amounts of literature, generate novel hypotheses, and suggest detailed research plans", according to its press release. "The idea with [the] 'AI co-scientist' is to give scientists superpowers," says Alan Karthikesalingam at Google. The tool, which doesn't have an official name yet, builds on Google's Gemini large language models. When a researcher asks a question or specifies a goal – to find a new drug, say – the tool comes up with initial ideas within 15 minutes. Several Gemini agents then "debate" these hypotheses with each other, ranking them and improving them over the following hours and days, says Vivek Natarajan at Google. During this process, the agents can search the scientific literature, access databases and use tools such as Google's AlphaFold system for predicting the structure of proteins.

Kate Mosse and Richard Osman have hit back at Labour's plan to give artificial intelligence companies broad freedoms to mine artistic works for data, saying it could destroy growth in creative fields and amount to theft. It is seen as a way of supercharging the growth of AI companies in the UK. Last month Paul McCartney warned that AI "could just take over", and Kate Bush joined Stephen Fry and Hugh Bonneville in signing a petition warning that the "unlicensed use of creative works for training generative AI is a major, unjust threat to the livelihoods of the people behind those works, and must not be permitted". Mosse told the Guardian: "Using AI responsibly and well and being a world leader – all of this I agree with. It just cannot be at the expense of the creative industries … It is supporting one type of growth and destroying another part of growth. And it cannot be on the basis of theft of our work."

Our world is in a spiral of crises. While conventional threats, such as famine, drought, civil war and genocide, continue to loom over humanity in many parts of the world, the race to assume control of new phenomena that have the potential to change the world – such as novel communications and weapons technologies, artificial intelligence and cryptocurrencies – is also gaining pace and posing new threats to our collective wellbeing. Our current "rules-based international order", which was established in the aftermath of World War II to increase global cooperation, generate economic prosperity, prevent wars, and ensure stability, equality and justice is struggling to navigate these complex challenges and falling short of preventing violations of its founding principles. A state of irregularity, which benefits only a handful of powerful countries and interest groups while spelling catastrophe for the masses, is close to becoming the new normal of the global order. Therefore, it is now not a preference but an obligation to make comprehensive reforms to the system to prevent this scenario from becoming reality.

It has now been close to 10 months that Israel has been waging a genocidal war in Gaza. Its army has violated nearly every facet of international humanitarian law in its relentless assault on an unimaginably vulnerable population. Israel has denied the Gaza concentration camp the bare necessities of life -- food, water, medicine, sanitation, electricity and fuel. And its targeting of civilian infrastructure has made the majority of Gaza residents homeless. No Israeli military goal requires the total destruction of Gaza.

Saudi Arabia created a 100 billion fund this year to invest in A.I. and other technology. It is in talks with Andreessen Horowitz, the Silicon Valley venture capital firm, and other investors to put an additional 40 billion into A.I. companies. In March, the government said it would invest 1 billion in a Silicon Valley-inspired start-up accelerator to lure A.I. entrepreneurs to the kingdom. The initiatives easily dwarf those of most major nation-state investments, like Britain's 100 million pledge for the Alan Turing Institute. The spending blitz stems from a generational effort outlined in 2016 by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and known as "Vision 2030."

AI-powered augmented reality devices will give human beings'superpowers' to detect lies and'read' emotions of people they are talking to, a futurist has claimed. Devin Liddell, Principal Futurist at Teague, said that computer vision systems built into headsets or glasses will pick up emotional cues that un-augmented human eyes and instincts cannot see. The technology would let people know if their date is lying or is sexually aroused, along with spotting a lying politician. Liddell said that as augmented reality'merges' with artificial intelligence, humans will gain sensory superpowers which will'transform the social landscape.' He described this as'backchannel' - a term normally used to describe discussions that are not made public and which can give people an advantage in negotiations, for example.

"With great power comes great responsibility." You don't have to be a Marvel buff to recognize that quote, popularized by the Spider-Man franchise. And while the sentiment was originally in reference to superhuman speed, strength, agility, and resilience, it's a helpful one to keep in mind when making sense of the rise of generative AI. While the technology itself isn't new, the launch of ChatGPT put it into the hands of 100 million people in the span of just 2 months, something that for many felt like gaining a superpower. But like all superpowers, what matters is what you use them for. Generative AI is no different.