Are We Making AI Too Human?, with James Evans

12/06/2025 31 min Episodio 170
Are We Making AI Too Human?, with James Evans

Listen "Are We Making AI Too Human?, with James Evans"

Episode Synopsis

Prof. James Evans, a University of Chicago sociologist and data scientist, believes we’re training AI to think too much like humans—and it’s holding science back.In this episode, Evans shares how our current models risk narrowing scientific exploration rather than expanding it, and explains why he’s pushing for AIs that think differently from us—what he calls “cognitive aliens.” Could these “alien minds” help us unlock hidden breakthroughs? And what would it take to build them? Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

More episodes of the podcast Big Brains