The Political Scene | The New Yorker How Should We Approach A.I. in 2026?
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Dec 24, 2025 
Join journalists Charles Duhigg, Cal Newport, and Anna Wiener as they delve into the fascinating world of AI. They discuss the gap between Silicon Valley hype and the reality of generative AI, offering insights on how it’s currently used for productivity and emotional support. The trio explores how social structures influence who benefits from AI, the challenges in creative industries, and the risks of AI-driven political propaganda, painting a nuanced picture of what AI may mean for society by 2026.
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Infrastructure Beats Algorithms Alone
- Major tech revolutions often require infrastructure and new business concepts, not just algorithms.
- Cal Newport argues breakthroughs come when we reconfigure tech into new platforms and products.
AGI Will Likely Be Distributed
- AGI as a single text model is unlikely; future systems will be diverse and task-specific.
- Cal Newport predicts distributed specialized models will combine to produce broad capabilities.
AI Might Mirror The Internet
- AI may resemble the internet in long-term societal impact rather than the modest phone analogy.
- Charles Duhigg suggests neural nets plus hardware robots could transform many domains like the internet did.
