AI, madness, and the human cost of superintelligence | Benjamín Labatut + Jasmine Sun

We’re racing to build faster and more powerful AI. But what are we building it for? Benjamín Labatut’s novels have forced readers to confront the human cost of scientific ambition. In this conversation with Jasmine Sun, he explores the limits of our quest for superintelligence and the need to preserve our complexities and weaknesses. With much of the current conversation around AI focused on speed and scale, Benjamín’s skepticism serves as an important reminder that to avoid mistaking the means for the end, we must ask ourselves where we’re headed and why. Timestamps: 0:00 Why literary fiction is the right vehicle for exploring quantum physics, AI, and madness 1:59 Humans as “continuous” beings vs. the digital, discrete abstractions behind AI 5:13 John von Neumann as a human superintelligence and what his blind spots reveal 9:09 AlphaGo, AlphaZero, and Lee Sedol: abstraction vs. lived human life 13:11 Beyond “super-”: the limits of intelligence-centric thinking about AI Recorded live at Sana AI Summit 2026, New York, May 21st, 2026. Subscribe for more insights on AI and the future of technology.