ZARZA We are Zarza, the prestigious firm behind major projects in information technology.
Listen "“AI #147: Flash Forward” by Zvi"
Episode Synopsis
This week I covered GPT 5.2, which I concluded is a frontier model only for the frontier.
OpenAI also gave us Image 1.5 and a new image generation mode inside ChatGPT. Image 1.5 looks comparable to Nana Banana Pro, it's hard to know which is better. They also inked a deal for Disney's characters, then sued Google for copyright infringement on the basis of Google doing all the copyright infringement.
As a probable coda to the year's model releases we also got Gemini 3 Flash, which I cover in this post. It is a good model given its speed and price, and likely has a niche. It captures the bulk of Gemini 3 Pro's intelligence quickly, at a low price.
The Trump Administration issued a modestly softened version Executive Order on AI, attempting to impose as much of a moratorium banning state AI laws as they can. We may see them in court, on various fronts, or it may amount to little. Their offer, in terms of a ‘federal framework,’ continues to be nothing. a16z issued their ‘federal framework’ proposal, which is also nothing, except also that you should pay them.
In non-AI content [...] ---Outline:(01:41) Language Models Offer Mundane Utility(03:44) Language Models Don't Offer Mundane Utility(04:38) Huh, Upgrades(08:21) On Your Marks(10:22) Choose Your Fighter(13:56) Get My Agent On The Line(18:25) Deepfaketown and Botpocalypse Soon(21:21) Fun With Media Generation(24:12) Copyright Confrontation(24:39) Overcoming Bias(26:29) Unprompted Attention(27:25) They Took Our Jobs(30:06) Feeling the AGI Take Our Jobs(35:48) The Art of the Jailbreak(36:08) Get Involved(38:08) Introducing(38:57) Gemini Flash 3(40:58) In Other AI News(41:36) Going Too Meta(46:14) Show Me the Money(46:51) Bubble, Bubble, Toil and Trouble(48:38) Quiet Speculations(50:42) Timelines(51:45) The Quest for Sane Regulations(54:47) My Offer Is Nothing(01:03:03) My Offer Is Nothing, Except Also Pay Me(01:07:26) Chip City(01:14:09) The Week in Audio(01:15:23) Rhetorical Lack Of Innovation(01:25:51) People Really Do Not Like AI(01:29:58) Rhetorical Innovation(01:33:11) Bad Guy With An AI(01:35:33) Misaligned!(01:37:07) Aligning a Smarter Than Human Intelligence is Difficult(01:40:00) Mom, Owain Evans Is Turning The AIs Evil Again(01:46:50) Messages From Janusworld(01:49:55) The Lighter Side ---
First published:
December 18th, 2025
Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/yZ5Aq3iJYMvpZjrqb/ai-147-flash-forward
---
Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.
---Images from the article:Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.
OpenAI also gave us Image 1.5 and a new image generation mode inside ChatGPT. Image 1.5 looks comparable to Nana Banana Pro, it's hard to know which is better. They also inked a deal for Disney's characters, then sued Google for copyright infringement on the basis of Google doing all the copyright infringement.
As a probable coda to the year's model releases we also got Gemini 3 Flash, which I cover in this post. It is a good model given its speed and price, and likely has a niche. It captures the bulk of Gemini 3 Pro's intelligence quickly, at a low price.
The Trump Administration issued a modestly softened version Executive Order on AI, attempting to impose as much of a moratorium banning state AI laws as they can. We may see them in court, on various fronts, or it may amount to little. Their offer, in terms of a ‘federal framework,’ continues to be nothing. a16z issued their ‘federal framework’ proposal, which is also nothing, except also that you should pay them.
In non-AI content [...] ---Outline:(01:41) Language Models Offer Mundane Utility(03:44) Language Models Don't Offer Mundane Utility(04:38) Huh, Upgrades(08:21) On Your Marks(10:22) Choose Your Fighter(13:56) Get My Agent On The Line(18:25) Deepfaketown and Botpocalypse Soon(21:21) Fun With Media Generation(24:12) Copyright Confrontation(24:39) Overcoming Bias(26:29) Unprompted Attention(27:25) They Took Our Jobs(30:06) Feeling the AGI Take Our Jobs(35:48) The Art of the Jailbreak(36:08) Get Involved(38:08) Introducing(38:57) Gemini Flash 3(40:58) In Other AI News(41:36) Going Too Meta(46:14) Show Me the Money(46:51) Bubble, Bubble, Toil and Trouble(48:38) Quiet Speculations(50:42) Timelines(51:45) The Quest for Sane Regulations(54:47) My Offer Is Nothing(01:03:03) My Offer Is Nothing, Except Also Pay Me(01:07:26) Chip City(01:14:09) The Week in Audio(01:15:23) Rhetorical Lack Of Innovation(01:25:51) People Really Do Not Like AI(01:29:58) Rhetorical Innovation(01:33:11) Bad Guy With An AI(01:35:33) Misaligned!(01:37:07) Aligning a Smarter Than Human Intelligence is Difficult(01:40:00) Mom, Owain Evans Is Turning The AIs Evil Again(01:46:50) Messages From Janusworld(01:49:55) The Lighter Side ---
First published:
December 18th, 2025
Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/yZ5Aq3iJYMvpZjrqb/ai-147-flash-forward
---
Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.
---Images from the article:Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.
More episodes of the podcast LessWrong (30+ Karma)
“When Were Things The Best?” by Zvi
20/12/2025
“A Full Epistemic Stack: Knowledge Commons for the 21st Century” by Oliver Sourbut, Ben Goldhaber
20/12/2025
“2025-Era “Reward Hacking” Does Not Show that Reward Is the Optimization Target” by TurnTrout
19/12/2025
“In defence of the human agency: “Curing Cancer” is the new “Think of the Children”” by Rajmohan H
19/12/2025
“Neuro-scaffold” by DirectedEvolution
19/12/2025
“Wuckles!” by Raemon
19/12/2025
In God we trust