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0:00 A brief message from Bob
3:25 Shakeel’s newsletter, Transformer, and its mission
7:16 The case(s) against Sam Altman
12:58 OpenAI President Greg Brockman’s political spending
17:15 The founding doctrines of the leading AI labs
22:46 The singleton and the singularity
27:34 How market forces overwhelm good intentions
32:35 Is the singularity near?
41:30 Sam vs. Dario vs. Demis
46:14 Heading into Overtime
Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True), Shakeel Hashim (Transformer). Recorded April 7, 2026.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods
Shakeel's newsletter:
Overtime titles:
What is going on in Elon Musk’s head?
Is Meta still in the AI race? Is Google?
More on Elon’s head.
How seriously does Mark Zuckerberg take AI?
Shakeel: If our fate depends on any one of these guys, we’re in trouble.








