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Before I was an AI researcher, I was a professional magician…. In my magician days, I used to fight to keep my secrets hidden. The dirtiest secret is that most illusions are actually quite simple. Learn a few basic principles and you can probably figure out 90 per cent of the tricks out there. Could you perform them? No. But nevertheless, knowing how they work takes away their power, and it shields you from mystified surrender. But AI isn’t a magic show. The stakes are real. And if we don’t pull back the curtain, the job of shaping the world will fall to the charlatans.