
Breaking the Deadlock: AI: Who's In Control?
Preview: 10/27/2026 | 30sVideo has Closed Captions
As AI advances, who will control whom: people or technology?
As AI becomes woven into daily life, Americans face a choice: control the technology, or be controlled by it. Can its benefits outweigh the costs to jobs, privacy, politics, and our sense of humanity? Through a series of hypothetical dilemmas, leaders in tech, culture, politics, and journalism debate AI’s ethical challenges, seeking not consensus, but a shared understanding of what’s at stake.
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Funding for this program was provided in part by grants from The Rosalind P. Walter Foundation and by a grant from Anne Ray Foundation and by contributions from viewers like you. Thank you. Location furnished by The New York Historical.

Breaking the Deadlock: AI: Who's In Control?
Preview: 10/27/2026 | 30sVideo has Closed Captions
As AI becomes woven into daily life, Americans face a choice: control the technology, or be controlled by it. Can its benefits outweigh the costs to jobs, privacy, politics, and our sense of humanity? Through a series of hypothetical dilemmas, leaders in tech, culture, politics, and journalism debate AI’s ethical challenges, seeking not consensus, but a shared understanding of what’s at stake.
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorshipThis is a story.
That's going to lead to some hard questions.
Maybe it's gone too far.
AI is dangerously powerful.
Making education better.
Making health care better.
Create a lot of jobs.
We're assuming a good faith from people who have not earned it.
They're in it for the money.
You're being blackmailed.
Not by a person.
You're being blackmailed by an AI agent.
The core question to me is, do people matter?
Is that a value we still hold?
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Funding for this program was provided in part by grants from The Rosalind P. Walter Foundation and by a grant from Anne Ray Foundation and by contributions from viewers like you. Thank you. Location furnished by The New York Historical.