The Curve AI Conference Turned Professional: Less Doom Debate, More DC Strategy
neil_chilson · x · 2026-10-06
Policy scholar Neil Chilson recaps the stark vibe shift at The Curve AI conference between last year and this year:
- Last year a major lab employee showed "the most unhinged PowerPoint" and another explained regulatory capture strategy; this year lab speakers kept saying "I don't think I can talk about that."
- No one tried to argue him into a higher p(doom) this year; discussions shifted to congressional priorities and channeling U.S. populism productively.
- Debates about whether labs are good or bad guys gave way to strategy sessions on funding yet another state-focused think tank.
- Passionate audience pleas to stop AI from killing everyone are now essentially just Yoshua Bengio, in seemingly every presentation.
His takeaway: less weird and more professionalized — less SF and more DC, less LessWrong and more LinkedIn — and he's not sure what to make of it.
Related event: The Curve conference shifts from doom debate to pragmatic policy talk(3 posts)→
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