In this first episode of Season 2 for academic year 2026-2027, the Future Tech & Policy (FTP) panel discusses a lot of news from over the summer since the show took summer off for break! The group first considers the implications of some of the claims coming from the frontier AI companies that development needs to slow down amid growing functionality and capabilities of AI models, as well as the competition among AI companies for model superiority and possible claims of large-scale harm to humans. Additionally, the panel takes up the debate about OpenAI stating they solved the Navier-Stokes math problem and several of the impacts of AI-based work on not just mathematics, but all academic and research disciplines. Join the panel as we discuss these hot news items and more!


Links to articles discussed

- We Must Pace the Frontier (Dario Amodei)
https://darioamodei.com/post/we-must-pace-the-frontier

- Anthropic boss Dario Amodei calls for AI development to slow down (BBC)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c14dpgm0rg4o

- Dario Amodei says OpenAI's Hugging Face hack helped convince him AI needs to slow down (Business Insider)
https://www.businessinsider.com/dario-amodei-slow-ai-safety-essay-openai-hugging-face-hack-2026-9

- Biggest AI Rivals Agree They Need to Slow It Down (Wall Street Journal)
https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/anthropic-boss-warns-ai-industry-must-slow-the-pace-a4267b56

- On the Navier–Stokes Millennium Prize Problem (OpenAI)
https://openai.com/index/navier-stokes-solution/

- OpenAI Says It Has Cracked One of Math's 'Millennium Problems' (NY Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/08/science/openai-proof-millennium-problem.html


Panelists

- Zachary McDowell, Associate Professor, Communication, University of Illinois Chicago
https://comm.uic.edu/profiles/zachary-mcdowell/

- Jeremy Riel (Host), Assistant Professor, Educational Psychology, University of Illinois Chicago & IGPA Science and Technology Working Group Co-Lead
https://education.uic.edu/profiles/riel-jeremy/

- Gagandeep Singh, Assistant Professor, Computer Science, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign & IGPA Science and Technology Working Group Co-Lead
https://siebelschool.illinois.edu/about/people/faculty/ggnds

- Ken Suh, Adjunct Professor, Law, University of Illinois Chicago & University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
https://linkedin.com/in/kensuh


About The FTP Podcast

The FTP podcast brings together a panel of interdisciplinary faculty experts across the University of Illinois System to discuss trends and news from recent weeks in tech and policy while looking toward the future. Produced by the Science and Technology Working Group, Institute of Government and Public Affairs (IGPA), University of Illinois System.

https://igpa.uillinois.edu

All opinions expressed on the FTP Podcast are those of the individual panelists and not the opinions of the University of Illinois System, The Institute of Government and Public Affairs, or the three UI universities in Urbana-Champaign, Chicago, or Springfield.