ClaimsSteven Pinker

“I did tweet a possibly hackle-raising article in the New York Times in which Cal Newport traced the history of AI doomerism back to a Berkeley Rationalist subculture which he called “weirder than we realize.””

Steven Pinker, author of open letter 26 September 2026 Steven Pinker Replies to Scott Alexander on AI (Quillette) archived copy

Factual AI safety and alignment

Pinker tweeted a New York Times article in which Cal Newport traced the history of AI doomerism to a Berkeley Rationalist subculture he called "weirder than we realize."

Unresolvable The public record could not settle it.

Factual: Statements about the present or the past, checked against the record: did they hold up?

What would count as true or false

Judged as of 2026-09-26. True: Pinker's X/Twitter account (or other account he posts from) shared, on or before 2026-09-26, a New York Times piece by Cal Newport tracing AI doomerism to a Berkeley rationalist subculture and calling it 'weirder than we realize' (or close wording). Mostly true: he shared it, with a minor detail off (for example the phrase is in the headline rather than the body, or the wording differs slightly). Mixed: he shared a related Newport article in a different outlet, or a different author's NYT article making this argument. Mostly false: Newport's NYT article exists but makes a substantially different argument. False: no such NYT article by Newport exists, or the post is shown to be by someone else.

Set before the research began.

Evidence (5)

  1. E1 A Spoonful of “Deep Thinking” on AI indieresearch.net · 6 September 2026

    “In an article published by The New York Times, Cal Newport raises a question we should no longer ignore: How Scared Should We Be of A.I. Right Now?”

  2. E2 A Spoonful of “Deep Thinking” on AI indieresearch.net · 6 September 2026

    “Cal Newport argues that they’re simply weirder than we realize.”

  3. E3 How Scared Should We Be of A.I. Right Now? dnyuz.com (reprint of a New York Times opinion essay by Cal Newport) · 5 September 2026

    “The more I study these figures, however, the more convinced I’ve become that something else helps explain this passive dismay: They’re weirder than we realize.”

  4. E4 How Scared Should We Be of A.I. Right Now? dnyuz.com (reprint of a New York Times opinion essay by Cal Newport) · 5 September 2026

    “Some Rationalists began living in group houses in the Bay Area, where earnest conversations about A.I. safety and reducing cognitive biases mixed freely with polyamory and psychedelics.”

  5. E5 The Thompson Library & Archives Blog - LibGuides at University of Michigan - Flint University of Michigan-Flint Thompson Library

    “I came upon the New York Times opinion guest essay “How Scared Should We Be of A.I. Right Now?” by Cal Newport, a professor of computer science at Georgetown.”

Reasoning

The evidence confirms that Cal Newport wrote a New York Times opinion guest essay, "How Scared Should We Be of A.I. Right Now?" (E1, E3, E5). The essay says of the figures it discusses that "they're weirder than we realize" (E2, E3), and describes some Rationalists living in Bay Area group houses where conversations about A.I. safety took place (E4). However, no item shows that Pinker's X/Twitter account or any other account he posts from shared the article. The only support for the sharing is Pinker's own statement, so the central part of the criterion is not settled.

Cite this claim

Steven Pinker, “Pinker tweeted a New York Times article in which Cal Newport traced the history of AI doomerism to a Berkeley Rationalist subculture he called "weirder than we realize."” (said 26 September 2026). Verdict: unresolvable. Reliability API, claim c_5fa48bce36d6, method 0.1.0+28da144b, dataset release v1.1.2. https://epistacklabs.com/claims/c_5fa48bce36d6

This claim is in dataset release v1.1.2, with the same verdict.

Reply to this claim

For Steven Pinker, or someone speaking for them: a correction or counter-evidence. Replies are read before anything is shown; an approved reply shows your name, role, date, statement and link. Your email address is never shown and is deleted 30 days after the decision (privacy).

More factual claims by Steven Pinker

  1. Mostly true Factual 26 September 2026
    “I argued that any intelligent system is a mechanism which is good at solving some problems but not others, and which is inherently limited by knowledge about the world attainable only by observation…”

    Pinker said he had argued that any intelligent system is a mechanism good at solving some problems but not others, and that it is inherently limited by knowledge about the world attainable only through observation and experimentation.

  2. Mixed Factual 2023
    “Part of the problem is that a lot of artificial intelligence has been deployed toward dubious goals like multiplying propaganda, disinformation, phishing scams, manipulating people into doing things…”

    A lot of artificial intelligence has been deployed toward dubious goals such as propaganda, disinformation, phishing scams and manipulating people.

  3. Mostly true Factual 11 October 2026
    “A major fact about language, known for decades, is that people don’t blurt out what they mean”

    It has been known for decades in the study of language that people do not blurt out what they mean but use euphemism, innuendo and indirection.

  4. Mostly true Factual 11 October 2026
    “But in other kinds violence, such as homicides, the progress has definitely continued.”

    Progress against homicide has definitely continued, with homicide rates for most countries and for the world as a whole better now than 15 years ago.

  5. Mostly true Factual 11 October 2026
    “I float a number of hypotheses as to why cooperation and human flourishing in general have increased.”

    Pinker said he floats a number of hypotheses as to why cooperation and human flourishing in general have increased.

All of them

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