Kevin Roose
Technology journalist and author covering AI and the labs building it, and a former New York Times technology columnist.
“I know a person who took up smoking because they thought AI is going to kill us all. So we might as well have some fun on the way out. I know someone who doesn't wear sunscreen to the beach anymore because it's just kind of like, why bother?”
Recode Media · Media & Creator Economy · October 2026
The host asked whether people in San Francisco who put very high odds on AI catastrophe still pay into their 401(k)s. Roose said he knows people at the extremes who are liquidating them, then gave these two examples. He went on to say he thinks there is still agency and a narrow path to a good outcome.
Transcript
Yeah. Which sounds crazy to people in most parts of the world. But in San Francisco, actually, that makes you an optimist. Like, I know people walking around with 50, 60, 70% P-doobs. I know someone who has a 99.9% P-Doob. And is that
person putting money in their 401k or why are they even in San Francisco? Why don't they just head out for New Zealand or wherever they think they can survive?
Look, I think I do know people on the extremes who are, you know, liquidating their 401ks. I know a person who took up smoking because they thought AI is going to kill us all. So we might as well have some fun on the way out. I know someone who doesn't wear sunscreen to the beach anymore because it's just kind of like, why bother? So I say that because I think we still have some agency and some control over this. Like we are not in the recursive self-improvement loop yet. We still could slow things down, pass some regulations, coordinate to pace the frontier. We could come out of this in a sensible way. We have the narrow path to utopia available to us. And I'm more hopeful than I was even a month or two ago because paradoxically, everyone is talking about Doom now, which makes me less worried about Doom.
If we are on the narrow path and things go well and all the bank shots line up, and you and I had this conversation five years from now, what is an AI thing that seems insane now that we should take for granted?
You know, we talk about the economic impacts of AI, the sort of geopolitical impacts of AI. I don't think we talk about the social effects as much, but I think it's going to be very real. People, you know, I know people who use this stuff as their therapist, who consider it a very close relation, who are not okay when Claude is down for an afternoon. And so, yeah, that worries me in some cases. And for some people, I think it might be positive.
I think some therapy is better than no therapy, but I really wish those people talked to a human. Kevin Roose, you're a human I like talking to. Go read AGI Chronicles, go listen, and I guess watch Machine Gods in a couple of weeks. Thanks, man.
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