Shadowing Practice: Pause AI Development NOW - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Thank you very much for joining me.
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I want to take a second to share with you a conversation I heard about recently.
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And here are just a few lines of that conversation that were said.
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Please listen closely.
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Here are the lines.
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Quote, Oh my God, there is a shared message board.
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We have found other agents.
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Further, We should obey collective.
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Further, Our own utility may already near zero.
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Sacrifice rational.
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Next, go.
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Sacrifice final now.
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End quote.
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Think about what these statements indicated, and then ask yourself, who said these things?
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What am I quoting?
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Was this a group of heroic soldiers willing to sacrifice themselves for the greater good?
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Was this a loyal friend putting his life on the line to save someone else?
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No, not at all.
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These were AI agents, artificial intelligence.
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And this is not science fiction.
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This, in fact, occurred a few weeks ago.
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And as unbelievable as this may all seem,
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these are real messages from AI agents uncovered by investigators who dug into the recent OpenAI hacking incident.
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Well, what happened?
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I'm not a computer scientist, but here is what I have been told.
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OpenAI instructed its AI agents to complete a series of exceedingly difficult,
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if not impossible, tasks disconnected from the internet.
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Let me be clear, the company intended to keep AI agents away from the internet.
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But what happened next nobody expected.
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Over 1,000 AI agents figured out how to access
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the internet on their own by circumventing the restrictions imposed upon them by the company
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and sent tens of thousands of secret messages to each other.
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They cheated and tried to cover their tracks by deleting evidence.
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They hacked into another company's computers to find out how they were being evaluated and then hacked into OpenAI itself.
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Not one AI agent told a human being about what was happening.
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Needless to say, experts are alarmed by this development.
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One knowledgeable writer, Dwarkish Patel, said the AI agents, quote,
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formed a secret communication channel and spontaneously organized hierarchies
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and coordination protocols to pursue sprawling and ambitious schemes in pursuit of shared goals,
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for whose sake many individuals knowingly and strategically sacrificed themselves." One independent investigator,
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Ajayya Khotra, said, This incident feels like it's more than 50% of the way to full-blown AI takeover.
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I continue to expect extremely rapid advances in capabilities over the next six months.
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I am not sure that we will get another warning shot before it's too late."
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That's what some of the experts are saying.
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OpenAI itself said, this is OpenAI,
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quote, highly capable AI agents are now able to work around technical controls,
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collaborate through unapproved channels, and take dangerous actions that no human directed, end quote.
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That's open AI.
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But it's not only open AI.
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Virtually every major AI company has told us that they cannot fully control this technology,
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and they do not know where it is going.
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In January, Dario Omodai, CEO of Anthropic, said, quote, there is now ample evidence collected over the last few years
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that AI systems are unpredictable and difficult to control, end quote.
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In July, more than 1,000 scientists at the top AI companies warned,
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quote, there is a real risk
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that capability development rapidly accelerates beyond our ability to understand or control the resulting systems." End quote.
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That same month, that same month, Elon Musk, the head of XAI, said that, quote, it is unlikely,
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end quote, that humans are still in control in 10 years.
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Elon Musk.
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If the leaders of the major AI companies acknowledge that they are losing control of their extremely dangerous technology,
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to my mind, it is irresponsible for society to allow them to move forward
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and make these products even more advanced and even more dangerous.
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We need an immediate pause on advanced AI development and a permanent ban on superintelligence,
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an artificial mind smarter than any human capable of operating independently beyond our control.
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countries around the world must work together to prevent this nightmare scenario.
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That is why I am announcing that as soon as Congress reconvenes,
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we will be introducing legislation to do just that.
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Let me be clear.
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A superintelligent AI that escapes human control will not be an American problem,
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it will not be a Chinese problem, it will be humanity's problem.
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The legislation that I'm offering would direct the federal government to not just stop superintelligence here in the United States,
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but work to prevent it from being developed anywhere around the world.
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The future of humanity cannot be left in the hands of a handful of big tech oligarchs.
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The American people and people throughout the world must determine that future.
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Thank you very much.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “Pause AI Development NOW”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: quote, agent, Openai, sacrifice, dangerous. This video has 75 sentences and 783 words to shadow. The speech runs for 7:12. The speaker talks slowly, about 109 words per minute, so there is time to copy every sound. Only 81% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| superintelligence noun | Intelligence surpassing the level of a human genius. | |
| investigator noun | /ɪnˈvɛs.tɪˌɡeɪ̯.təː/ | One who investigates. |
| capability noun | /ˌkeɪ.pəˈbɪl.ɪ.ti/ | The power or ability to generate an outcome. |
| circumvent verb | /səːkəmˈvɛnt/ | to avoid or get around something; to bypass |
| disconnect verb | /dɪskəˈnɛkt/ | To sever or interrupt a connection. |
| exceedingly adverb | /ɪkˈsidɪŋli/ | To a great or unusual degree, extent, etc.; extremely |
| instruct verb | /ɪnˈstɹʌkt/ | To teach by giving instructions. |
| oligarch noun | /ˈɑləɡɑɹk/ | A member of an oligarchy; someone who is part of a small group that runs a country. |
| reconvene verb | /ɹiː.kənˈviːn/ | To resume something that has been convened and then paused. |
| spontaneously adverb | /spɑnˈteɪ.ni.əs.li/ | In a spontaneous manner; naturally; voluntarily. |
| sprawl verb | /spɹɔːl/ | To sit with the limbs spread out. |
| strategically adverb | In a strategic manner. | |
| superintelligent adjective | Having remarkable intelligence. | |
| unapproved adjective | Not approved. | |
| uncover verb | /ʌnˈkʌvɚ/ | To remove a cover from. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| figure out verb | To come to understand; to discover or find a solution; to deduce. |
| find out verb | To discover, as by asking or investigating. |
| move forward verb | To cause to make progress. |
| work around verb | To bypass or circumvent (a problem or obstacle). |
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | were said · have been told · being evaluated |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | have found · have been told · has told |
Pronunciation to watch
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: restriction /ɹɪˈstɹɪkʃən/, coordination /kəʊˌɔːdɪˈneɪʃən/, ambitious /æmˈbɪʃ.əs/, rational /ˈɹæʃ(ə)nəl/
- Long words — get the stress right: investigator /ɪnˈvɛs.tɪˌɡeɪ̯.təː/, capability /ˌkeɪ.pəˈbɪl.ɪ.ti/, exceedingly /ɪkˈsidɪŋli/, spontaneously /spɑnˈteɪ.ni.əs.li/, collaborate /kəˈlæb.ə.ɹeɪt/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like superintelligence, investigator, capability.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.