On this special episode of the podcast, Emilia Javorsky interviews Sean Ekins about the dangers of AI drug discovery. They talk about how Sean discovered an extremely toxic chemical (VX) by reversing an AI drug discovery algorithm.
Timestamps: 00:00 Introduction 00:46 Sean’s professional journey 03:45 Can computational models replace animal models? 07:24 The risks of AI drug discovery 12:48 Should scientists disclose dangerous discoveries? 19:40 How should scientists handle dual-use technologies? 22:08 Should we open-source potentially dangerous discoveries? 26:20 How do we control autonomous drug creation? 31:36 Surprising chemical discoveries made by black-box AI systems 36:56 How could the dangers of AI drug discovery be mitigated?
Researcher Zak Stein discusses how anthropomorphic AI can exploit human attachment systems, its psychological risks for children and adults, and ways to redesign education and cognitive security tools to protect relationships and human agency.
Andrea Miotti, founder of Control AI, discusses the extreme risks from superintelligent AI and his case for a global ban on systems that could outsmart humans, touching on industry lobbying, regulation strategies, public awareness, and citizen actions.
Ryan Kidd of the MATS program joins The Cognitive Revolution to discuss AGI timelines, model deception risks, dual-use alignment, and frontier lab governance, and outlines MATS research tracks, talent needs, and advice for aspiring AI safety researchers.
