Alex Stamos on Silicon Valley's 'nihilism,' and the line between real AI risks and imagined ones

In the debut episode of Future Proof from Semafor Technology, Cognition CISO and former Facebook security chief Alex Stamos goes off on the “nihilism” ripping through Silicon Valley. He joins Semafor San Francisco Bureau Chief Reed Albergotti to discuss the very real risks of AI, and the wholly imagined ones shaped by “almost religious beliefs” held by people at AI companies. “These things are not conscious, they do not have souls,” he says. Stamos says he plans to “work the problem” to help shorten the inevitable “dark age” of cybersecurity. “What you should not do is just quit your job and freak everybody out,” he says. Plus, why nobody would work for Mark Zuckerberg if he resembled Aaron Sorkin’s celluloid version in the upcoming film The Social Reckoning. Future Proof is presented by Google Workspace with Gemini. Get personalized AI built into premium versions of Gmail, Docs, Drive, and more to help you tackle daily tasks—all in one plan. Upgrade to Google Workspace with Gemini.