Circe

We Can't Lose Control of A.I.

The Ezra Klein Show, 20 September 2026. The book comes up at 30 min 7 sec in.

The host quotes a passage from Madeline Miller's novel Circe—"those who fight against prophecy only draw it more tightly around their throats"—to capture the irony of AI researchers who originally feared uncontrollable autonomous AI and are now racing to build exactly that. The line is described as having run through the host's head during a summer of unsettling AI news.

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