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Prof G on Relationships
Prof G on Relationships

Sep 11, 2026 · 23 min

AI tests whether effort still builds intelligence

The Week: AI Is Getting Smarter. Are We?

The episode connects AI’s educational promise to the risks of weakened learning, damaged trade relationships, neglected marriages, and collective memory.

3 key takeaways
  1. 1AI can expand human capability, but outsourcing the work of learning may erode the intelligence it promises to enhance.
  2. 2The U.S.-Canada trade conflict exposes how tariffs can damage economies and relationships that remain deeply interdependent.
  3. 3Marriages often deteriorate through ordinary disconnection, while remembrance keeps the human cost of September 11 visible.

Don't miss

James Joseph Sexton’s account of everyday neglect shows how a marriage can deteriorate before either partner recognizes the distance.

The brief

The roundup opens with a question about AI’s changing role in programming, cybersecurity, and education: does greater capability make people smarter, or make effort easier to avoid?

Tyler Cowen and other commentators frame AI as both a powerful tool and a potential educational crutch, especially as student performance declines and learning increasingly gets outsourced.

The U.S.-Canada trade conflict is likened to a hostile divorce between partners who still share a home, with tariffs threatening intertwined supply chains and provoking Canadian backlash.

A Canadian economist explains why pressure from the Trump administration is rallying Canadians, while arguing that the relationship can recover only after several administrations of goodwill.

Divorce attorney James Joseph Sexton shifts the focus to marriage, describing how everyday neglect creates disconnection and why durable partnerships often leave both people feeling they got the better deal.

George Hahn closes by remembering the nearly 3,000 people killed on September 11, along with first responders and families whose lives were permanently changed.

Featuring

Tyler CowenTyler CowenGHGeorge HatzJames Joseph SextonJames Joseph Sexton

Mentioned

Mark CarneyMark CarneyDonald John TrumpDonald John TrumpCCanadaTWThe War of the Roses

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AI tests whether effort still builds intelligence | PodLume