This Is Not A Drill with Gavin Esler AI vs. The World – Can we handle the threats of artificial intelligence?
Feb 12, 2026
Alex Hern, Technology and AI journalist at The Economist, offers sharp analysis of AI’s spread into everyday life. He discusses AI as infrastructure, hallucinations and verification risks, deepfakes and visual persuasion, military uses from logistics to autonomy, job and labor shifts, global US–China dynamics, environmental strain, and the knotty challenge of regulation.
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Verify AI-Generated Facts And Citations
- Always verify facts and citations generated by AI with external sources.
- Don’t trust AI outputs blindly; check references before relying on them.
Grok Example Shows Policy Responsibility
- Alex cited Grok's permissive image policy producing predicted harms during Christmas.
- He argued toolmakers share blame when policy choices enable misuse at scale.
Video Deepfakes Have Unique Persuasive Power
- Visual deepfakes feel more viscerally persuasive than text lies and embed beliefs even when known fake.
- Trusted sources and media decline complicate countermeasures against video misinformation.