The decoder’s Artificial Intelligence and society hub frames the technology as a tool for tackling major challenges in climate, energy, healthcare, education, and logistics, while acknowledging significant risks tied to surveillance and social justice. The hub asks what society is doing with Artificial Intelligence, and what Artificial Intelligence is doing to society, curating reporting that spotlights both promise and peril.
Media integrity and information access are recurring themes. A featured story warns of a deepfake “dystopia” tied to Sora 2, underscoring escalating concerns about synthetic video. Italy’s main publishers’ group FIEG filed a complaint with communications regulator Agcom over Google’s Artificial Intelligence Overviews, arguing that summaries placed directly in search results demote journalism, violate rules in the European Union’s Digital Services Act, and reduce publisher revenues. The European Publishers Association is supporting parallel efforts across Europe. The hub also highlights a parody site satirizing hype and risks around the current large language model boom, reflecting broader skepticism about inflated promises and potential harms.
Regulation and geopolitics feature prominently. California passed the first United States law regulating Artificial Intelligence companion chatbots. Japan warned OpenAI over Sora 2 after Artificial Intelligence-generated anime videos raised copyright concerns. In U.S. policy circles, a Trump Artificial Intelligence advisor accused Anthropic of “regulatory capture,” illustrating ongoing debates about influence over rulemaking. Beyond Artificial Intelligence software, the Dutch government moved to take control of a European chip manufacturer amid West-China tech tensions, pointing to strategic concerns in the hardware that underpins Artificial Intelligence progress.
Industry shifts and culture are another throughline. Bloomberg reports Apple’s head of Artificial Intelligence search, Ke Yang, is leaving for Meta Platforms; Yang led the Answers, Knowledge and Information team powering a more web-aware Siri ahead of a major update planned for March. Following his exit, the team will report to Benoit Dupin under Apple’s Artificial Intelligence chief, John Giannandrea, after other high-profile departures to Meta, including Robby Walker and Ruoming Pang. The hub also surfaces commentary on Silicon Valley’s evolving ethos, with journalist Jacob Silverman arguing executives have shed moral pretensions in favor of profit and influence. Rounding out the discourse, Anthropic’s Jack Clark likens recent Artificial Intelligence breakthroughs to “hammers that suddenly become self-aware,” a stark metaphor for tools gaining unexpected capabilities and societal impact.
