Down With the AI Overlords—With Sarah Myers West
Tech expert Sarah Myers West discusses how AI is concentrating power among a handful of oligarchs—and how its future could be made more democratic.

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You've already heard us rant about AI. What if you could hear someone who's actually super smart and profoundly informed… also rant about AI? We're joined by tech expert Sarah Myers West, who lays out why AI, as it's currently structured, is all about the consolidation of power among a handful of oligarchs, but also how that's not how it needs to be.
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OpenAI CEO Sam Altman arrives to court at the Ronald V. Dellums Federal Building on April 30, 2026 in Oakland, California.
(Benjamin Fanjoy / Getty Images)You’ve already heard us rant about AI. What if you could hear someone who’s actually super smart and profoundly informed… also rant about AI? We’re joined by tech expert Sarah Myers West, who lays out why AI, as it’s currently structured, is all about the consolidation of power among a handful of oligarchs, but also how that’s not how it needs to be.
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Here's where to find podcasts from The Nation. Political talk without the boring parts, featuring the writers, activists and artists who shape the news, from a progressive perspective.
Cory Doctorow, guy who coined the term enshittification, has been eviscerating Big Tech oligarchs for many years. He’s now turning his razor-sharp mind onto one of our most/least favorite topics: AI. His new book, The Reverse-Centaur’s Guide to Life After AI, is in many ways a practical guide for how to resist (actually resist, not just feel-good resist) the biggest financial scam in human history. Cory joins us to discuss what we should be really protesting when we protest AI. (And, at the end, we make sure to touch on his idea that Democrats should start preparing to prosecute the fascists who have so desperately got it coming, a.k.a., the Nuremberg Caucus.)
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