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Alex Petropolous is a tech writer and a graduate of the Young Voices Contributor Program. Recently, he has helped to found Arq Foundation, a European organization aimed at ensuring AI can progress and develop while protecting basic freedoms.
Alex Petropolous’s Impact Interview:
How has your time in the Young Voices contributor program impacted your career?
Significantly. Having a published writing portfolio was the main reason I got my first think tank job: I met someone at a conference, he had a look at the articles I had published, was impressed by my takes, and offered me a job. Without that intermediate step of having some published work to be able to show, I don’t think I would have got that job or be where I am today.
Beyond that, having access to an editor improved my writing greatly, and colleagues are always impressed by my radio and TV hits.
You've primarily covered tech and AI in your writing. What do you see as the biggest thing people misunderstand about AI in the ongoing conversation?
I focus on European AI policy - for many European policymakers, regulation is their go-to-solution for the risks AI might introduce. I’m not saying there aren’t risks; I’m very worried about many of the market failures that exist around AI, like AI-enabled cyberrisk, monopolisation, or AI-enabled government overreach.
Clearly, we need to do something, but for a technology that moves as fast as AI, I don’t think that regulation should be your first step (it took over 7 years from the Commission's first white paper on AI to the AI Act's high-risk provisions being fully enforceable — a period in which we went from GPT-2 to GPT-5). Instead, we need to invest in R&D for new technologies that can help mitigate against these risks. Just like how vaccines, not policies, were what ultimately ended Covid, we need a new wave of technologies that push the tech tree in a more pro-decentralisation, pro-democracy, and pro-resilience direction. Given that these are market failures, either governments or philanthropy need to fund this research.
Which media placement that the Young Voices content team helped you place are you most proud of?
I wrote a piece about how “it’s easier to build a nuclear reactor on the moon than in the UK”. Some infrastructure wonks I really looked up to ended up engaging with and retweeting that piece, which was super encouraging and pushed me to keep writing :).
You've recently started a new role as the Director of Strategy for Arq Foundation. What are you most looking forward to in this new position?
I’m most excited about being able to co-found an organisation that’s aiming to change Europe’s trajectory in a meaningfully better direction. I’m quite worried that Europe is losing its agency over how AI affects its future and I’d like to change that. But that means getting serious about the tradeoffs needed and internalising just how significant of a technology AI is. Being able to shape the strategy of an organisation being founded to solve this problem is really exciting.
What would you say to a young person trying to get their footing and build a career as a writer or journalist?
Write about what interests you. Don’t be too fussed about which audience is interested in what, write with authenticity and enthusiasm and people will see that and your audience will find you. Also use AI. It will be a very important part of your work. Don’t be afraid to pay for the more expensive versions as well if you are able to - they are worth it.
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