Articles about Oren Etzioni

Etzioni on AI: Become a power user

Oren Etzioni lays out 20 habits and settings that separate AI power users from everyone else, from letting AI interview you before it starts, to deciding once what it may never do on your behalf. Read More

Etzioni on AI: Murphy’s Law of AI

Oren Etzioni writes that the AI break-ins disclosed over the past three weeks by OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta and the UK’s AI Security Institute were entirely predictable. He argues that better alignment won’t prevent the next one, and makes the case for bounding what an agent can touch instead. Read More

Etzioni on AI: Uncle Sam wants a stake in leading AI companies — what could possibly go wrong?

Although bipartisan momentum is building for the federal government to take equity positions in major AI firms, this strategy risks compromising regulatory neutrality unless strict guardrails and sunset clauses are established. Read More

Etzioni on AI: Who disagrees with you about AI? Here’s what the research shows

Optimism comes from those with the most to gain, in the rising economies and inside the labs; doubts rise from those with the most to lose or the most to fear. Read More

Etzioni on AI: Does AI bolster or undercut democracy?

As America marks its 250th year, the debate over AI’s impact on self-government hinges on a crucial tension: while pessimists fear the concentration of its power, optimists champion the democratization of its access. Read More

Etzioni on AI: Elon Musk promised humanoid robots, but China delivered

While American tech giants are valued for the anticipation of perfect prototypes, Chinese manufacturers are winning the robotics race by getting paid for delivery. Read More

Etzioni on AI: AI’s ‘annual physical’ surfaces one big surprise

Oren Etzioni examines the Stanford 2026 AI Index and finds a paradox at its center: the U.S. leads the world in AI investment and model development but ranks 24th in population-level adoption, behind the UAE, Singapore, Norway, Ireland, and France. Read More

Etzioni on AI: What the World Cup tells us about the best roles for humans and machines

The 2026 World Cup has added AI and computer vision to the officiating crew — a sensor inside the ball, semi-automated offside calls, and 16 tracking cameras per stadium. Oren Etzioni explains how the systems work, what they deliberately leave to human referees, and what it says about automation more broadly. Read More

Etzioni on AI: Backlash against AI-generated text mirrors the anti-GMO movement

The anti-AI-content movement will likely go where the anti-GMO movement went: a loud opening act, a long taper, and a quiet ending in which the product is everywhere. Read More

Opinion: SpaceX is no Tesla

Seattle AI veteran Oren Etzioni argues that SpaceX’s record-setting IPO valuation prices in three unproven bets at once — and that the Tesla playbook doesn’t apply at this starting point. Read More

Etzioni on AI: Ten Commandments for AI Startups

AI researcher, entrepreneur, and investor Oren Etzioni lays out 10 commandments for AI startups — covering business models, distribution, inference costs, and avoiding dependence on any single frontier model — preceded by 10 classics that apply to startups in general. Read More

Etzioni on AI: Wall Street is quietly betting on AI to beat inflation

The U.S. bond market is keeping long-term inflation expectations remarkably low, begging a massive macro question: is the smart money right to bet that an AI productivity miracle will save us from a $36 trillion national debt? Read More

Etzioni on AI: The Pope can talk, but only we can walk

In a guest op-ed, AI researcher and UW professor emeritus Oren Etzioni responds to Pope Leo XIV’s new encyclical on AI, arguing that moral pronouncements — however eloquent — accomplish little unless people change their own behavior. Read More

Etzioni on AI: The Virgin Unicorns

Twelve AI labs have raised more than $29 billion at a combined valuation approaching $130 billion, without shipping anything a customer can buy. Oren Etzioni examines what history says about how this story ends. Read More

Etzioni on AI: Don’t let the OpenAI soap opera hide the precedent

Computer scientist and AI industry veteran Oren Etzioni argues that OpenAI’s nonprofit-to-for-profit conversion sets a dangerous precedent for American charity law, and that the real reckoning will have to come from Washington, not the Oakland courtroom. Read More

Etzioni on AI: Vibe coding needs an on-ramp — and seat belts

What vibe coding needs is its Windows moment — the point at which a powerful but arcane technology gets a user interface so good that the machinery underneath disappears. Read More

Etzioni on AI: The AI capex conundrum

The AI capex debate hinges on whether AWS and other hyperscalers will see demand grow fast enough to justify massive spending — and the data to settle that argument is still about a year away. Read More

Etzioni on AI: If at first you don’t succeed, prompt, prompt again

The people who get the most out of AI aren’t the ones with the best prompt templates. They’re the ones who treat the model as a powerful tool for advancing their work. Read More

Etzioni on AI: How to read with AI

The fundamental question here is not productivity. It is about the impact of AI reading on you as the reader: What happens to your retention, your understanding, your ability to synthesize across sources? Read More

Etzioni on AI: AI coach or AI ghostwriter? The choice is yours

AI is a fork in the road disguised as a shortcut. Down one path, it’s a coach that studies your weaknesses, challenges your assumptions, and pushes you past your limits. Down the other, it’s a ghostwriter, and you are putting your name on someone else’s thoughts, slowly forgetting that you ever had your own. Read More

Opinion: The AI white collar displacement debate — doom or delay?

The AI displacement doom loop is overstated and will take longer to arrive than many anticipate. But it is coming, and we are in for major economic and perhaps social upheaval. Read More

Anthropic acquires Vercept in early exit for one of Seattle’s standout AI startups

Anthropic is acquiring Seattle AI startup Vercept, folding its desktop “computer use” technology and team into Claude as the race to build AI agents that can operate software intensifies. Vercept will shut down its Vy application as part of the deal. Read More

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