AI Reality Check: Did AI Just Become Sentient?

Cal Newport takes a closer look at recent AI news.

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Video from today’s episode: youtube.com/calnewportmedia

Below are the questions covered in today’s episode (with their timestamps). For instructions on submitting your own questions, go to calnewport.com/podcast.

STORY #1:

– Did an AI Agent Email an AI Researcher? [1:01]

STORY #2:

– Does the Pentagon Think Claude Has a Soul? [10:20]

STORY #3:

– What’s Going on with Anthropic Revenues? [14:16]

YOUTUBE TITLE

– Did AI Just Become Sentient? (Let’s Take a Closer Look…) | AI Reality Check | Cal Newport

LINKS:

Buy Cal’s latest book, “Slow Productivity” at www.calnewport.com/slow
https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/philosopher-ai-consciousness-startled-ai-email
https://x.com/dioscuri/status/2029227527718236359
https://x.com/thomaschattwill/status/2029273517175263679
https://x.com/ns123abc/status/2032122638852640951
https://www.reuters.com/commentary/breakingviews/anthropic-gives-lesson-ai-revenue-hallucination-2026-03-10/
https://pluralistic.net/2026/03/12/normal-technology/

Thanks to Jesse Miller for production and mastering and Nate Mechler for research and newsletter.

DEEP QUESTIONS