80,000 Hours AI writers newsletter

In a time of AI chaos, follow these experts Share: Link Aaron Gertler September 25, 2026 At 80,000 Hours, we spend our days monitoring the AI situation, so we know there’s too much situation these days. This week’s newsletter is a group effort: we surveyed our colleagues, sifted through our own feeds, and made a list of our favourite follows in the infinite sea of AI news. The list isn’t comprehensive. We set a limit of 30 sources and focused mostly on those that post often, whether about current events or cutting-edge research. Blogs (general) Each of these covers a wide spectrum. Subscribe to any two, and you’ll see the stories that matter most. Don’t Worry About the Vase — Zvi Mowshowitz is a machine. He puts out daily commentary on news stories, new models, and even notable podcast episodes. Not for the faint of heart — there’s a lot of material, with limited context — but if I were trapped on a desert island with only one AI blog, I’d make it Zvi’s. Humans on AI — Biweekly news roundups with brief, well-calibrated comments. If Zvi is too much even for a desert island, this is a great alternative. Import AI — Anthropic cofounder Jack Clark has written 473 weekly newsletters, and he keeps getting better. Thoughtful takes on news and research from the ultimate insider, and a bit of fiction as a treat. Transformer — Written by actual journalists! That means original reporting and more consideration for low-context readers, but also lower information density. AGI.FYI — Not a blog, but a reading list that regularly posts new and classic material. Great for catching up if you’ve only recently started exploring AI safety. Blogs (specialist) These are narrower than the previous list, focusing on particular topics and points of view. AI as Normal Technology — Two Princeton academics who think that many claims about superintelligence are incoherent. Many AI safety people cite them as among the best critics of that space. AI Safety in China — 80,000 Hours advisor Sudhanshu Kasewa recommends this for great coverage of a neglected subject. Ajeya Cotra — A great blogger twice over. Planned Obsolescence covers her AI forecasts and a range of technical topics. Good Bones tends to cover the interpersonal aspects of AI safety research, including topics like the corrupting nature of power and what it’s like to work on impossibly hard problems. My fellow writer Avital Morris recommends digging through the archives. Anton Leicht — Hard-nosed, realist writings on AI governance, with an emphasis on the views of policymakers and the plight of middle powers. Dean Ball — Sharp writing on AI governance and possible futures from a former official who served in the Trump administration and helped draft its AI Action Plan. He’s become much more publicly concerned about AI risk in the last year or two, which has made for a lot of interesting posts; I expect more of those now that he’s at OpenAI. Sarah Hastings-Woodhouse — Rambling personal essays with titles like “What the hell just happened?” and “Is everything weird yet?” Fun, accessible, and very human; a writer to commiserate with about the silly and scary parts of our strange era. Understanding AI — Timothy B. Lee is an AGI sceptic who doesn’t expect economic transformation in the next few years. This makes him an interesting contrast to most of the other sources here. Sudhanshu also recommends AI Summer, Lee’s podcast with Dean Ball: “If you buy AGI risk, it’s a good exercise to figure out where your views diverge from Timothy’s.” Some organisations have great blogs too, including Epoch, METR, Redwood Research, and the AI Futures Project. Videos For when you’d rather watch than read, or want something easy to share: Our own channel: AI in Context — Lavishly produced mini-documentaries on the biggest AI stories of the last few years. We aim for compelling, watchable storytelling that you could send to your sharpest sceptical friends. Rob Miles — The OG. When he launched h