Generative AI is Here. Who Should Control It?

We sit down with the founder of Stability AI, Emad Mostaque, on the heels of his $101 million fund-raising round. His open-source Stable Diffusion image generator is the key to unlocking creativity, he says, and “one of the ultimate tools for freedom of expression” — as long as it stays out of the hands of a few censorious tech giants. So what’s this former hedge fund manager turned tech mogul thinking about how this technology could be used — or misused? Plus: A.I. Kevin and A.I. Casey stop by. On today’s episodeEmad Mostaque, the chief executive of Stability AI Additional resources“Eshoo Urges N.S.A. & O.S.T.P. to Address Unsafe A.I. Practices” (Press Release, Representative Anna Eshoo of California)“This artist is dominating A.I.-generated art. And he’s not happy about it.” (Melissa Heikkilä, M.I.T. Technology Review)“A Coming-Out Party for Generative A.I., Silicon Valley’s New Craze” (Kevin Roose, The New York Times) Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.