Robert Wright's Nonzero Dario, Demis, Sam: Assessing the AI Guys (Robert Wright & Shakeel Hashim)
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Apr 9, 2026 Shakeel Hashim, editor of Transformer, a newsletter translating AI policy and industry news for policymakers. He sizes up Sam Altman, Greg Brockman, Dario, and Demis. They discuss lab founding doctrines, the singleton and singularity concerns, political spending, Anthropic’s safety tradeoffs, and whether market forces and small leads can create strategic dominance.
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Transformer Serves Policymakers Outside The Lab
- Transformer targets policymakers and nontechnical readers to bridge the gap between AI research and public decision making.
- Shakeel launched Transformer because governments lacked reporting and analysis necessary to steer transformative AI safely.
Reporting Confirms Persistent Concerns About Sam Altman
- The New Yorker piece and Karen Hao's reporting deepen an existing portrait of Sam Altman as manipulative and people-pleasing.
- Reporters interviewed 100+ people and found recurring impressions of dishonesty and duplicity around Altman.
Greg Brockman Became OpenAI's Political Spokesman
- Greg Brockman acted as OpenAI's political man and donated heavily to U.S. pro-innovation PACs.
- Shakeel notes Brockman was the largest donor to a Trump Super PAC in late 2025 and backed PACs opposing tighter AI regulation.
