The Great AI Unraveling: Tristan Harris

Recorded live at  SAND Community Gathering (April 2026). Watch the full conversion on the SAND Website.

SAND has launched a special series on Artificial Intelligence.

To premiere this series, we spoke with tech ethicist Tristan Harris—co-founder of the Center for Humane Technology. In this conversation, we explored his warnings about the impending age of AI. According to Harris, the current trajectory isn’t just menacing the economy, but fundamentally rewiring human relationships, altering parenting and mental health, potentially accelerating climate collapse, and even threatening the very fabric of society. We inquired into ways to remain human in an era where machines can simulate empathy, displace our labor, and potentially outmaneuver us.

 

Topics

• 00:00 Welcome and Context
• 00:42 Why This AI Talk
• 01:32 Introducing Tristan Harris
• 03:15 Setting the Basics
• 04:10 From Narrow to New AI
• 06:18 Rubber Band Reality Check
• 08:31 Transformers and Scaling
• 11:00 Infinity Upside and Risk
• 14:49 Defining AGI and ASI
• 18:18 Jagged Capabilities and Hype
• 21:33 Singularity and Anti Human Drift
• 23:26 Incentives Behind the Future
• 27:29 The Intelligence Curse
• 32:22 Devaluing Humans and Consensus
• 37:56 Planetary Costs of Data Centers
• 39:41 Why We Keep Building It
• 42:46 Extinction Risk and Safety Math
• 45:20 AI in War and Arms Race
• 47:36 Leaders Unaware of Runaway Signs
• 48:26 Leaders Fear AI Power
• 49:02 Nuclear War Game Theory
• 49:41 Infinite Games Mindset
• 51:11 AI as Extractive Empire
• 52:27 From Shadow to Action
• 53:55 Building the Human Movement
• 57:25 Four-Step Action Plan
• 59:44 Grassroots Wins and Bans
• 01:02:18 Nonprofit Progress and Lawsuits
• 01:07:51 Talking to Teens Effectively
• 01:10:05 Governance and Citizen Assemblies
• 01:12:19 Spiritual Hopes vs Incentives
• 01:15:12 Accelerationism and Choice
• 01:18:22 Policy Maker Ten Minute Brief
• 01:21:26 Countering Transhumanist Ideology
• 01:23:45 Changing Culture and Incentives
• 01:27:12 Final Reflections and Gratitude

Resources

Websites & Organizations

• Center for Humane Technology (Tristan Harris's website)
• The Human Movement
• AI Dialogue
• Prohuman AI Statement / Declaration
• Roadmap to How We Ensure AI is Serving Humanity
• Indigenous Perspectives on AI Course
• Metarelational AI
• Tech Workers Coalition
• Panel on AI + Embodiment Luma Invite
• Purge Palantir Action Links
• Purge Palantir Campaign Pledge

 

Articles & Documents

• Alibaba Security Paper
• The Intelligence Curse by Luke Drago and Rudolf Laine
• The Shape of AI Jaggedness
• Harvard Gazette: Why are Communities pushing back on data centers
• The Palantir Payroll PDF
• New York Times Opinion: Yuval Harari AI ChatGPT
• Archive Article on Billionaires' Brains
• New York Times Opinion: Anthropic’s Restraint Is a Terrifying Warning Sign

 

Videos & Films

• The Social Dilemma
• The AI Doc / How I Became an Apocalyptimist - Official Trailer
• Ghost in the Machine
• The Day After
• War Games
• Bernie vs. Claude (YouTube)
• Joanna Macy and the Great Turning
• How To Make AI Good For Humanity by Siliconversations (YouTube)

 

Books & Textbooks

• Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach by Peter Norvig and Stuart J. Russell (PDF)
• States of Denial by Stanley Cohen (PDF) 
• Finite and Infinite Games by James P. Carse (PDF)
• Hospicing Modernity by Vanessa Machado de Oliveira
• Outgrowing Modernity by Vanessa Machado de Oliveira
• The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt
• IntraConnected: MWe (Me + We) as the Integration of Self, Identity, and Belonging by Daniel J. Siegel, M.D.

 

• Empire of AI By Karen Hao

• More Everything Forever by Adam Becker 

• Why Do We Tell Ourselves Scary Stories About AI? by Amanda Gefter

 

 

Podcasts & Audio

• Your Undivided Attention - Tristan Harris, Aza Raskin, and Daniel Barcay
• The Emerald - Joshua Michael Schrei
• The Great Simplification - Nate Hagens

Support the mission of SAND and the production of this podcast by becoming a SAND Member