Scaling Laws

Tom Davidson on the Importance of AI Character

June 5, 2026·51 min
Episode Description from the Publisher

Tom Davidson joins Kevin Frazier, AI Innovation and Law Fellow at the University of Texas School of Law and a Senior Editor at Lawfare, to discuss AI timelines, explosive economic growth, and the increasingly urgent debate over “AI character” — the behavioral traits and decision-making tendencies embedded into advanced AI systems.Drawing on Davidson’s recent paper, “The Importance of AI Character,” which he co-authored with Will MacAskill, their conversation explores how the character of future AI systems may influence democratic governance, military conflict, institutional trust, and even the long-run trajectory of civilization. The discussion also examines the key influences on character development and which actors should ultimately play a part in dictating the default values and behaviors of AI models. You may also enjoy Tom's article on AI as advisors. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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