The state of AI: Hype, jobs, agents, and "Artificial General Absurdity" | Lauren Crichton

AI has made some of us laugh, others despair. But will we agree to act? Lauren Crichton, Vice President at Sana, opens Sana AI Summit 2026 with a sweeping and witty look at where we stand now and how strangely similar our questions are to those asked in 1964. From Arthur C. Clarke’s “knowledge explosion” to today’s AI agents crossing a coherence threshold, Lauren dissects the economics, politics, and sheer absurdity of the current moment. In the end, she invites us to see the future as a reality we must shape into existence, rather than a distant project we get to theorize about. Timestamps: 0:00 Arthur C. Clarke’s “Knowledge Explosion” and today’s AI moment 2:09 The AI-agent “coherence threshold”: real work, software engineering, and FOBO 4:20 AI economics: exploding token usage vs. collapsing inference costs 5:47 The politics and absurdity of the AI hype cycle: “artificial general absurdity” 7:21 Why Sana Summit brings more than tech into the conversation Recorded live at Sana AI Summit 2026, New York, May 21st, 2026. Subscribe for more insights on AI and the future of technology.