Are We Having the Wrong Nightmares about AI

On Thursday 4 June 2026, the King's Institute for Artificial Intelligence and The Policy Institute welcomed a packed audience to hear Dr Zeynep Tufekci deliver the 2026 Fulbright Distinguished Lecture, 'Are We Having the Wrong Nightmares about AI?'

Dr Tufekci is Henry G. Bryant Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs at Princeton University and a New York Times columnist, widely regarded as one of the most clear-eyed thinkers on technology and its impact on society. Her lecture made a provocative case: that the conversations dominating public debate about AI are focused on the wrong things.

She argued that fears about AI causing mass unemployment are largely misplaced, pointing out that AI has repeatedly struggled to take over even straightforward tasks like customer service, let alone the complex, unpredictable work that most people do. Looking at how society has misread major technological shifts before, from the printing press to the car, she showed that the biggest disruptions are rarely the ones people see coming.

The real dangers, she argued, are less dramatic but more insidious. How do we trust that something is genuine when anything can be faked? How do we know that a piece of writing, a photo, or a voice recording is real? What happens to education when effort and original thinking can be bypassed at the click of a button? And what does it mean for people, especially young people, to increasingly turn to AI chatbots for company and advice?

After the lecture, Dr Tufekci was joined in conversation by Professor Elena Simperl, Co-Director of the King's Institute for Artificial Intelligence, and Rt Hon Michelle Donelan, Former MP and former Secretary of State for the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, who recently began working with the Institute as a consultant. Together they discussed what good regulation might look like, the challenges facing universities, and how society might yet steer this technology in a better direction. The evening closed with questions from an engaged and enthusiastic audience.

The event was hosted in collaboration with the Fulbright Commission and supported by the Lois Roth Foundation and the Fulbright Association.

A full recording is available to watch on YouTube.