Azeem Azhar's Exponential View: Recent Episodes
HBR Presents / Azeem Azhar
How will the future unfold? What is the impact of technology on business & society? As technology reorders the world in which live, who will be the winners and who will be the losers? Join Azeem Azhar, curator of the Exponential View newsletter, in deep conversation with the world's leading thinkers and practitioners exploring these and other important questions.
The views expressed on this podcast are those of its hosts, guests, and callers, and not those of Harvard Business Review.
Welcome to Exponential View, the show where I explore how exponential technologies such as AI are reshaping our future. I’ve been studying AI and exponential technologies at the frontier for over ten years.
Each week, I share some of my analysis or speak with an expert guest to make light of a particular topic.
To keep up with the Exponential transition, subscribe to this channel or to my newsletter:
https://www.exponentialview.co/
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More than three years after ChatGPT's release, only 27% of executives say AI has met their ROI expectations. The history of factory electrification explains why — most companies are at the light-bulb stage, adding Copilot licenses rather than reconceptualizing their businesses around AI. In this episode I map the three stages of AI adoption, and show what it actually takes to move from chatbots to the autonomous company — the only stage where the moat becomes real.
I covered:
(01:40) Ford's electricity playbook: why AI adoption needs a complete rethink
(03:51) The congestion problem: why AI gains stall
(05:45) Chatbot to autonomous company: your three-stage roadmap
(06:40) Why individual productivity gains won't build a moat — and what will
(10:17) Which companies are getting AI transformation right
(14:12) My 2029 AI adoption forecast — and how to stay ahead
Read my essay "Why AI isn't showing up on your bottom line" on Substack: https://www.exponentialview.co/p/why-ai-isnt-showing-up-on-your-bottom-line
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Where to find me:
Exponential View newsletter: https://www.exponentialview.co/
Website: https://www.azeemazhar.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/azeem/
Twitter/X: https://x.com/azeem
Production by EPIIPLUS1.
Production and research: Baba Films, Chantal Smith, Marija Gavrilov.
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Welcome to Exponential View, the show where I explore how exponential technologies such as AI are reshaping our future. I’ve been studying AI and exponential technologies at the frontier for over ten years.
Each week, I share some of my analysis or speak with an expert guest to make light of a particular topic.
To keep up with the Exponential transition, subscribe to this channel or to my newsletter:
https://www.exponentialview.co/
Published in early March 2026, Andrej Karpathy's autoresearch AI tool makes autonomous scientific experimentation cheap and easy — but it was designed to solve machine learning problems. I wanted to see if I could apply its loop architecture to my own work: refining my worldview, testing arguments, solving business problems. In this video, I share how I adapted Karpathy’s autoresearch loops for problems that aren't easy to quantify, how to avoid the local minima trap, and the broader impact of these kinds of methods. I covered:
(02:11) The Karpathy Loop: what is it and how does it work
(07:54) Extending the loop into business and thinking
(09:46) The local minima trap
(12:20) The escape harness: getting beyond “good enough”
(16:05) What I’ve learned after 30 days
(18:47) The loop economy: from doing to judging
Where to find me:
Exponential View newsletter: https://www.exponentialview.co/
Website: https://www.azeemazhar.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/azeem/
Twitter/X: https://x.com/azeem
Production by EPIIPLUS1.
Production and research: Baba Films, Chantal Smith, Marija Gavrilov.
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Welcome to Exponential View, the show where I explore how exponential technologies such as AI are reshaping our future. I’ve been studying AI and exponential technologies at the frontier for over ten years.
Each week, I share some of my analysis or speak with an expert guest to make light of a particular topic.
To keep up with the Exponential transition, subscribe to this channel or to my newsletter:
https://www.exponentialview.co/
Last week Jensen Huang shared the numbers from NVIDIA’s order book: AI compute demand has grown a millionfold in two years. Much GTC coverage focused on chips, robots, data centers in space, but I think Jensen revealed something far more important in his keynote: “the inference inflection has arrived,” and this is about to transform how all companies should manage their budgets. The inference era is already the operating assumption of the world’s most valuable company.
In this week’s podcast, I cover:
(1:20) NVIDIA's $1 trillion order book
(1:56) OpenClaw: our era's web browser
(7:54) Training vs Inference: how AI is changing
(12:50) Pre-fill vs. decode: the technical split
(18:06) The Harness: why OpenClaw changes everything
(18:59) The engine is useless without a car
(22:21) From 100M to 870M tokens per day
(24:29) Meet my agent R Mini Arnold's team
(26:16) AI focus group simulations at $10–50 a run
(29:36) Jensen's self-interest (and why he's still right)
(33:07) AI governance: token budgets don't belong with IT
(35:07) From training economy to inference economy
Read my essay "Magnitudes of Intelligence" on Substack: https://www.exponentialview.co/p/the-hundred-million-token-day
Access the solar supercyle model here: https://www.exponentialview.co/p/solar-supercycle
Where to find me:
Exponential View newsletter: https://www.exponentialview.co/
Website: https://www.azeemazhar.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/azeem/
Twitter/X: https://x.com/azeem
Production by EPIIPLUS1.
Production and research: Baba Films, Chantal Smith, Marija Gavrilov.
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Welcome to Exponential View, the show where I explore how exponential technologies such as AI are reshaping our future. I've been studying AI and exponential technologies at the frontier for over ten years.
Each week, I share some of my analysis or speak with an expert guest to make light of a particular topic.
To keep up with the Exponential transition, subscribe to this channel or to my newsletter: https://www.exponentialview.co
Apple may have stumbled into one of the most defensible positions in AI. This was not on my radar – just two months ago, I was describing a credibility crisis at the company; they appeared wrong-footed on the most important technology of our times and an acquisition was their only plausible way out.
In this episode I work through what I and many other commentators missed – and what road lies ahead for Apple. I cover:
(01:16) Why I was wrong about Apple
(02:40) What's behind the Mac Mini shortage
(04:07) China goes OpenClaw crazy
(06:28) Perplexity builds on a Mac Mini
(07:12) The edge case for Apple
(09:05) Apple Moat 1: hardware
(11:31) Apple Moat 2: privacy
(15:47) The K problem: when good enough beats genius
(18:08) Privacy, sovereignty & the diary problem
Read my old position on Apple: https://www.exponentialview.co/p/ev-515
For more practical info about my OpenClaw stack: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCG3dFRF3ek
Where to find me:
Exponential View newsletter: https://www.exponentialview.co/
Website: https://www.azeemazhar.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/azeem/
Twitter/X: https://x.com/azeem
Production by EPIIPLUS1.
Production and research: Baba Films, Chantal Smith, Marija Gavrilov.
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Welcome to Exponential View, the show where I explore how exponential technologies such as AI are reshaping our future. I've been studying AI and exponential technologies at the frontier for over ten years.
Each week, I share some of my analysis or speak with an expert guest to make light of a particular topic.
To keep up with the Exponential transition, subscribe to this channel or to my newsletter: https://www.exponentialview.co/
AI has become so embedded in how I work that I can no longer cleanly separate it from my thinking. That raises a question I find genuinely unsettling: is intensive AI use making me a sharper thinker, or quietly doing the opposite? In this episode I pull back the curtain on my full research and writing process — the custom tools, the friction points, and the places where I'm still not sure I've got it right. For Ezra Klein, having AI summarize material is a disaster for original thought. But my AI systems are designed to protect the cognitive work that has to stay human, while they handle everything else. Knowing where to draw that line turns out to be the hardest and most important question.
I covered:
00:00 - Is AI worsening our thinking?
02:35 - Ezra Klein on AI and the death of original thought
04:02 - Cognitive offloading vs cognitive surrender
09:20 - Signal detection at scale
11:06 - Why I use several AI personas to scan for different insights
13:37 - AI tells me what NOT to think about
16:25 - The value of quietness
19:07 - Small notebooks, small ideas
20:01 - Writing reveals what you don't yet know
23:24 - The golden thread
25:20 - Speaking drafts aloud
28:05 - How I stress-test my arguments before publishing
29:35 - Using AI to stress-test my own house views
31:44 - Stylometer: my AI style and grammar tool
33:10 - Did AI make the thinking better?
For more on this week’s topics, subscribe to my newsletter https://www.exponentialview.co/
Where to find me:
Exponential View newsletter: https://www.exponentialview.co/
Website: https://www.azeemazhar.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/azhar/
Twitter/X: https://x.com/azeem
Production by EPIIPLUS1
Production and research: Baba Films, Chantal Smith, Marija Gavrilov.
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Welcome to Exponential View, the show where I explore how exponential technologies such as AI are reshaping our future. I've been studying AI and exponential technologies at the frontier for over ten years.
Each week, I share some of my analysis or speak with an expert guest to make light of a particular topic.
To keep up with the Exponential transition, subscribe to this channel or to my newsletter: https://www.exponentialview.co/
Meet R Mini Arnold - my OpenClaw chief of staff, which manages the equivalent of a ten-person team from a Mac mini in my garden studio. While I slept, that AI team debugged its own code at 3am, researched a trending Substack essay using five parallel investigators, and wrote a 4,600-word script for this very episode in 40 minutes. The gap between people who've started building this way and those who haven't is widening every week.
I covered:
00:51 Introducing my OpenClaw agent “R Mini Arnold”
03:59 What my AI chief of staff actually does
07:58 The hardware and software stack
10:38 A morning brief before you wake up
12:05 Overnight agents: research and code
15:00 How I communicate with my agent
18:56 Example 1: the sovereign wealth fund
22:41 Example 2: how this video was written
26:34 What it costs
29:22 The soul.md personality spec
32:39 Am I losing the judgment muscle?
35:46 Individuals vs. Fortune 500s
38:25 What to try this week
Where to find me:
Exponential View newsletter: https://www.exponentialview.co/
Website: https://www.azeemazhar.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/azhar/
Twitter/X: https://x.com/azeem
Production by EPIIPLUS1
Production and research: Baba Films, Chantal Smith, Marija Gavrilov.
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Welcome to Exponential View, the show where I explore how exponential technologies such as AI are reshaping our future. I've been studying AI and exponential technologies at the frontier for over ten years.
Each week, I share some of my analysis or speak with an expert guest to make light of a particular topic.
To keep up with the Exponential transition, subscribe to this channel or to my newsletter: https://www.exponentialview.co/
This is the first episode of AI Vistas, a new series where I bring together people I trust and respect to tackle a major question collectively.
Today’s question: are we in charge of our AI tools, or are they in charge of us?
Joining me are Nita Farahany, distinguished professor of law and philosophy at Duke University and a leading thinker on cognitive liberty and mental privacy; Eric Topol, founder of the Scripps Research Translational Institute and one of the world's most cited medical researchers; and Rohit Krishnan, engineer, former hedge fund manager, and AI builder. Moderating the conversation is Nick Thompson, CEO of The Atlantic.
We covered:
(01:33) Introducing AI Vistas
(03:51) The AI agent that made a financial decision mid-drive
(05:48) What does it mean to act autonomously anymore?
(08:42) Why AI harms are rarer than you'd expect
(10:24) When AI outperforms doctors – and why that's complicated
(15:20) Constituent competence: the skill you must never offload
(18:50) De-skilling is already happening
(31:20) What can schools do better?
(42:50) AI slop and "hollow-ware"
(46:40) What is lost when AI does the creating?
(49:18) When a tool gets good enough, we hand it off
(50:11) Deliberate intent: keeping AI as a tool
Where to find me:
- Exponential View newsletter: https://www.exponentialview.co/
- Website: https://www.azeemazhar.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/azhar/
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/azeem
Where to find Nick, Nita, Eric and Rohit:
- Thinking Freely with Nita Farahany: https://nitafarahany.substack.com/
- Ground Truths with Eric Topol: https://erictopol.substack.com/
- Strange Loop Canon with Rohit Krishnan: https://www.strangeloopcanon.com/
- The Most Interesting Reads with Nick Thompson: https://nxthompson.substack.com/
Production by EPIIPLUS1
Production and research: Baba Films, Chantal Smith, Marija Gavrilov.
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Welcome to Exponential View, the show where I explore how exponential technologies such as AI are reshaping our future. I've been studying AI and exponential technologies at the frontier for over ten years.
Each week, I share some of my analysis or speak with an expert guest to make light of a particular topic.
To keep up with the Exponential transition, subscribe to this channel or to my newsletter: https://www.exponentialview.co/
In this episode, I sit down with my friend Rohit Krishnan - writer of the Substack newsletter Strange Loop Canon - for a hands-on conversation about what it actually looks like to build with AI agents today. Between us we're burning through tens of billions of tokens a month - I hit nearly 100 million in a single day this week - and we share what we're each running on our own machines.
We dig into the quirks and surprising power of tools like OpenClaw, Claude Code, and Cowork, debate why AI remains stubbornly bad at good writing, and zoom out to ask what a world of trillions of agents might actually look like — and what economic infrastructure it will need.
We covered:
(03:15) What's on your screen right now?
(04:30) OpenClaw
(06:27) Rohit’s agent, Morpheus
(11:06) Azeem's agent, R. Mini Arnold
(19:25) The analyst is now a machine
(22:36) 100 million tokens in a day: the new normal
(24:44) Building tools to improve AI writing: Horace and Broca
(32:19) Why writing is the hardest eval for LLMs
(39:18) Towards a trillion agents
(42:09) The agentic economy: coordination, identity, and exchange
(46:33) How to get started with OpenClaw
(51:18) The hardest leap for new users
Where to find me:
Exponential View newsletter: https://www.exponentialview.co/
Website: https://www.azeemazhar.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/azhar/
Twitter/X: https://x.com/azeem
Production by EPIIPLUS1
Production and research: Baba Films, Chantal Smith, Marija Gavrilov.
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Welcome to Exponential View, the show where I explore how exponential technologies such as AI are reshaping our future. I've been studying AI and exponential technologies at the frontier for over ten years. Each week, I share some of my analysis or speak with an expert guest to make light of a particular topic.
To keep up with the Exponential transition, subscribe to this channel or to my newsletter: https://www.exponentialview.co/
In this episode, I'm joined by Jaime Sevilla, founder of Epoch AI; Hannah Petrovic from my team at Exponential View; and financial journalist Matt Robinson from AI Street. Together we investigate a fundamental question: do the economics of AI companies actually work?
We analysed OpenAI's financials from public data to examine whether their revenues can sustain the staggering R&D costs of frontier models.
The findings reveal a picture far more precarious than many assume; we also explore where the real infrastructure bottlenecks lie, why compute demand will dwarf energy constraints, and what the rise of long-running agentic workloads means for the entire industry.
Read the study here: https://www.exponentialview.co/p/inside-openais-unit-economics-epoch-exponentialview
We covered:
(00:00) Do the economics of frontier AI actually work?
(02:48) Piecing together OpenAI's finances from public data
(05:24) GPT-5's "rapidly depreciating asset" problem
(13:25) Why OpenAI is flirting with ads
(17:31) If you were Sam Altman, what would you do differently?
(22:54) Energy vs. GPUs; where the real infrastructure bottleneck lies
(29:15) What surging compute demand actually looks like
(33:12) The most surprising finding from the research
(38:02) The race to avoid commoditization
(43:35) Agents that outlive their models
Where to find me:
Exponential View newsletter: https://www.exponentialview.co/
Website: https://www.azeemazhar.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/azhar/
Twitter/X: https://x.com/azeem
Where to find Jamie: https://epoch.ai or https://epochai.substack.com
Where to find Matt: https://www.ai-street.co
Production by supermix.io and EPIIPLUS1 Production and research: Chantal Smith and Marija Gavrilov.
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Welcome to Exponential View, the show where I explore how exponential technologies such as AI are reshaping our future. I've been studying AI and exponential technologies at the frontier for over ten years.
Each week, I share some of my analysis or speak with an expert guest to make light of a particular topic.
To keep up with the Exponential transition, subscribe to this channel or to my newsletter: https://www.exponentialview.co/
A week before OpenClaw exploded, I recorded a prescient conversation with Mustafa Suleyman, CEO of Microsoft AI and co-founder of DeepMind. We talked about what happens when AI starts to seem conscious – even if it isn’t. Today, you get to hear our conversation.
Mustafa has been sounding the alarm about what he calls “seemingly conscious AI” and the risk of collective AI psychosis for a long time. We discussed this idea of the “fourth class of being” – neither human, tool, nor nature – that AI is becoming and all it brings with it.
Skip to the best bits:
(03:38) Why consciousness means the ability to suffer
(06:52) "Your empathy circuits are being hacked"
(07:23) Consciousness as the basis of rights
(10:47) A fourth class of being
(13:41) Why market forces push toward seemingly conscious AI
(20:56) What AI should never be allowed to say
(25:06) The proliferation problem with open-source chatbots
(29:09) Why we need well-paid civil servants
(30:17) Where should we draw the line with AI?
(37:48) The counterintuitive case for going faster
(42:00) The vibe coding dopamine hit
(47:09) Social intelligence as the next AI frontier
(48:50) The case for humanist super intelligence
Where to find Mustafa:
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X (Twitter): https://x.com/mustafasuleyman
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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mustafa-suleyman/
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Personal Website: https://mustafa-suleyman.ai/
Where to find me:
-
Substack: https://www.exponentialview.co/
-
Website: https://www.azeemazhar.com/
-
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/azhar
-
Twitter/X: https://x.com/azeem
Produced by supermix.io and EPIIPLUS1 Ltd. Production and research: Chantal Smith and Marija Gavrilov.
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Welcome to Exponential View, the show where I explore how exponential technologies such as AI are reshaping our future. I've been studying AI and exponential technologies at the frontier for over ten years.
Each week, I share some of my analysis or speak with an expert guest to make light of a particular topic.
To keep up with the Exponential transition, subscribe to this channel or to my newsletter: https://www.exponentialview.co/
At Davos 2026, the mood was unlike any previous World Economic Forum gathering. With Donald Trump arriving amid escalating geopolitical tensions and European leaders sounding alarms about sovereignty, I recorded live dispatches from the ground. In this special episode, I bring together observations from four days at the annual meeting, tracking the seismic shifts in global order alongside the practical realities of AI adoption in the enterprise.
Skip to the best bits:
(00:38) Day one at Davos
(02:10) Three recurring themes through the week
(03:55) Day three at Davos
(05:12) Mark Carney's stirring speech
(05:52) Why European leaders are sounding the alarm
(06:51) Why technological sovereignty just became urgent
(09:31) Day four at Davos
(12:59) What leaders really have to say on AI adoption
(14:07) The case for only using open source models
Where to find me:
Exponential View newsletter: https://www.exponentialview.co/
Website: https://www.azeemazhar.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/azhar/
Twitter/X: https://x.com/azeem
Production by supermix.io and EPIIPLUS1. Production and research: Chantal Smith and Marija Gavrilov.
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Welcome to Exponential View, the show where I explore how exponential technologies such as AI are reshaping our future. I've been studying AI and exponential technologies at the frontier for over ten years.
Each week, I share some of my analysis or speak with an expert guest to make light of a particular topic.
To keep up with the Exponential transition, subscribe to this channel or to my newsletter: https://www.exponentialview.co/
In this episode, Peter McCrory, Head of Economics at Anthropic, unpacks the company's new Economic Index report. His team analysed millions of real Claude conversations to map exactly where AI is augmenting human work today and where it isn't. We explore the striking divergence between API and chat usage, why businesses need to extract tacit knowledge to unlock AI's potential, the "hollow ladder" risk for junior workers, and Anthropic's estimate that AI could add 1.0-1.8% to annual productivity growth over the next decade.
Skip to the best parts:
(00:00) Anthropic's Economic Index report
(01:20) Claude's two distinct usage patterns
(06:22) Examining AI's impact on the labor market
(09:20) Where most businesses think too small
(12:03) Why extracting tacit knowledge is so important
(20:33) How do we create the next generation of experts?
(23:22) Why people need to develop cognitive endurance
(29:55) Long-term vs. short-term productivity
(35:56) The future of human knowledge
(37:46) Could AI's greatest impact go unmeasured?
(41:55) How task bottlenecks have moved
(46:09) Implementation resembles a staircase - not a curve
(50:47) "Capability doesn't instantly deliver adoption"
Where to find me:
Exponential View newsletter: https://www.exponentialview.co/
Website: https://www.azeemazhar.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/azhar/
Twitter/X: https://x.com/azeem
Production by supermix.io and EPIIPLUS1. Production and research: Chantal Smith and Marija Gavrilov.
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Welcome to Exponential View, the show where I explore how exponential technologies such as AI are reshaping our future. I've been studying AI and exponential technologies at the frontier for over ten years. Each week, I share some of my analysis or speak with an expert guest to make light of a particular topic.
To keep up with the Exponential transition, subscribe to this channel or to my newsletter: https://www.exponentialview.co/
In this episode, I share my outlook for 2026 and explain why AI tools now feel genuinely different. I explore how the act of making has been transformed, why authenticity and meaning will become the new scarcity, and whether the foundations of energy and capital can hold. I also address the question I was asked most in 2025: when will the AI bubble burst?
Skip to the best bits:
00:00 Why AI feels different in 2026
01:59 The six shifts in AI 03:32 The "done list" era
06:43 From execution to orchestration
09:02 The agentic coding revolution
11:10 What's a Chief Question Officer?
13:58 Three ways value will be created
16:27 "Claude told me to use ChatGPT"
18:02 The AI usage gap
20:30 The new moat in 2026
26:10 How does solar growth affect AI?
28:53 Revisiting the bubble or boom question
Where to find me:
Exponential View newsletter: https://www.exponentialview.co/
Website: https://www.azeemazhar.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/azhar/
Twitter/X: https://x.com/azeem
Production by supermix.io and EPIIPLUS1
Production and research: Chantal Smith and Marija Gavrilov.
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Welcome to Exponential View, the show where I explore how exponential technologies such as AI are reshaping our future. I've been studying AI and exponential technologies at the frontier for over ten years.
Each week, I share some of my analysis or speak with an expert guest to make light of a particular topic.
To keep up with the Exponential transition, subscribe to this channel or to my newsletter: https://www.exponentialview.co/
In this episode, Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman and I discuss how a strong US economy, high asset valuations, and rapid AI adoption are sitting in uneasy tension. We explore what past technology cycles can teach us, why safety nets struggle to address disruption, and where genuine optimism still makes sense.
This is a January 2025 rerun, which remains strikingly relevant today.
We covered:
(01:09) State of the US economy
(02:28) "That end of 1999 feeling"
(05:08) Insights and lessons from the dotcom bubble
(09:57) Why today's market is different
(13:44) Understanding AI's role in labor displacement
(16:05) Are LLMs "souped-up autocorrect"?
(20:14) How job displacement erodes communities
(23:40) 2025's looming threat of tariffs
(26:16) AI's surprising impact on globalization
(30:15) Can markets address inequality?
(33:06) The maximum level of sustainable national debt
(36:31) When should the Fed raise interest rates?
(38:57) The need to revitalize local economies
(44:53) Did Paul's 2025 predictions come true?
Where to find me:
Exponential View newsletter: https://www.exponentialview.co/
Website: https://www.azeemazhar.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/azhar/
Twitter/X: https://x.com/azeem
Production by supermix.io and EPIIPLUS1
Production and research: Chantal Smith and Marija Gavrilov.
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Welcome to Exponential View, the show where I explore how exponential technologies such as AI are reshaping our future. I've been studying AI and exponential technologies at the frontier for over ten years. Each week, I share some of my analysis or speak with an expert guest to make light of a particular topic.
To keep up with the Exponential transition, subscribe to this channel or to my newsletter: https://www.exponentialview.co/
What made 2025 special?
In this episode, I reflect on the past year and what it revealed: a K-shaped divide. On one track, AI models are now doing hours of high quality work, improving at exponential pace, and shifting how we work from doing to judging. On the other, organisations and the broader economy are struggling to keep up. Stay to the end for my seasonal film recommendation.
I cover:
(00:00) Intro
(00:45) The state of tool usage in 2025
(6:10) The gap between AI progress and organizational adoption
(9:53) AI’s shockingly rapid revenue growth
(11:17) The biggest mistake smart people make with AI
(14:14) The inescapable need for physical infrastructure
(16:06) What everyone was asking in 2025
(18:08) The new winners of the AI economy
(20:48) Why “K” is the letter of 2025
(24:08) Seasonal movie recommendation
Where to find me:
Exponential View newsletter: https://www.exponentialview.co/
Website: https://www.azeemazhar.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/azhar/
Twitter/X: https://x.com/azeem
Production by supermix.io and EPIIPLUS1
Production and research: Chantal Smith and Marija Gavrilov.
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Welcome to Exponential View, the show where I explore how exponential technologies such as AI are reshaping our future. I've been studying AI and exponential technologies at the frontier for over ten years. Each week, I share some of my analysis or speak with an expert guest to make light of a particular topic. To keep up with the Exponential transition, subscribe to this channel or to my newsletter: https://www.exponentialview.co/
In this episode, I’ve distilled a year of extraordinary dialogue into one 20-minute briefing. I’ve spent 2025 in conversation with the architects of our future - the builders and thinkers redefining AI, energy, and the global economy.
These are the "eureka" moments from my most exclusive interviews. From the future of "protopia" with Kevin Kelly to the hidden tech gaps with Dan Wang, this is your strategic roadmap for the exponential age.
What you'll hear about:
Part 1: AI as a general purpose tech
- Kevin Weil: The heuristic for startups
- Matthew Prince: The “Socialist” pricing debate
- Tyler Cowen: This will stifle the AI boom
- Nick Thompson: The "NBA-ification" of Journalism
- Kevin Kelly: From utopia to protopia
- Kevin Kelly: Technology as a "possibility factory”
Part 2: How work is changing
- Steve Hsu: The future of education
- Thomas Dohmke: The inspectability turning point
- Ben Zweig: The new role for entry-level workers
- Ben Zweig: Why are there so many hiring freezes?
- Ben Zweig: The eroding signal of higher education
Part 3: The physical world, compute, and energy
- Greg Jackson: The "crossing the road" metaphor
- Greg Jackson: Building a “show don’t tell” company
- Dan Wang, The "physical reality" of AI
- Part 4: The changing US China landscape
- Dan Wang: The West’s hidden tech gap
- Jordan Schneider: The two types of accelerationism
- Jordan Schneider: Why the US can learn from China
Where to find me:
Exponential View newsletter: https://www.exponentialview.co/
Website: https://www.azeemazhar.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/azhar/
Twitter/X: https://x.com/azeem
Production by supermix.io and EPIIPLUS1
Production and research: Chantal Smith, Marija Gavrilov and Hannah Petrovic
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Welcome to Exponential View, the show where I explore how exponential technologies such as AI are reshaping our future. I've been studying AI and exponential technologies at the frontier for over ten years. Each week, I share some of my analysis or speak with an expert guest to make light of a particular topic. To keep up with the Exponential transition, subscribe to this channel or to my newsletter: https://www.exponentialview.co/
In this episode, I look at the next 24 months of AI. The technology is improving rapidly – so what could hold back widespread transformation of how we work and live? I dig into the real constraints, from electricity shortages to institutional inertia, why mid-2026 matters for enterprise AI, and why so many people remain uneasy about a technology they use every day.
I cover:
(00:03) Predicting AI's next two years
(01:50) How life changing are chatbots, really?
(03:36) Our current biggest AI constraint
(07:58) The remarkable increase in token efficiency
(10:43) Why mid-2026 is a crucial turning point
(13:01) Do we actually want AI in our lives?
(15:28) Should organizations wait to jump in?
(16:39) How is OpenAI reckoning with Gemini?
(18:41) The market's reaction to OpenAI's code red
(19:32) Where will value accrue in the supply chain?
(20:51) What's the best strategy for middling powers?
Where to find me:
Exponential View newsletter: https://www.exponentialview.co/
Website: https://www.azeemazhar.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/azhar/
Twitter/X: https://x.com/azeem
Production by supermix.io and EPIIPLUS1
Production and research: Chantal Smith and Marija Gavrilov.
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Welcome to Exponential View, the show where I explore how exponential technologies such as AI are reshaping our future. I've been studying AI and exponential technologies at the frontier for over ten years.
Each week, I share some of my analysis or speak with an expert guest to make light of a particular topic.
To keep up with the Exponential transition, subscribe to this podcast or to my newsletter: https://www.exponentialview.co/
In this episode, I reflect on the third anniversary of ChatGPT's launch as a marker of where we are in the exponential age. As a product, ChatGPT captures the speed of technological progress, the new behaviours emerging around it and the widening gap between innovation and institutional change – all symptomatic of the era I called the exponential age in my 2021 book.
I cover:
(00:09) How ChatGPT became synonymous with AI
(01:41) The rise of the reasoning model
(03:53) Why NVIDIA's chip cycle is exponential
(05:53) How general-purpose tech changes everything
(07:59) The subtle power of building bespoke software
(11:46) The iPhone calculation that breaks everything
(14:53) Who profits from a general-purpose technology?
(16:38) The software market example
(20:07) Are we headed towards another .com crash?
Where to find me:
Exponential View newsletter: https://www.exponentialview.co/
Website: https://www.azeemazhar.com/
LinkedIn: /azhar
Twitter/X: https://x.com/azeem
Production by supermix.io and EPIIPLUS1
Production and research: Chantal Smith and Marija Gavrilov.
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
The AI industry is sending mixed signals, with markets turning red while teams report real productivity gains. In this session I explore why we are living in a split reality, where individuals move faster with these tools but the wider economy is ambivalent. We once assumed juniors would get the biggest lift from AI, yet the newer agentic tools seem to reward senior workers who know how to structure problems and judge output.
In this podcast, I look at the evidence behind that shift and explain how these gains collide with the slow grind of organisational processes.
I cover:
(00:00) AI productivity: A split reality
(00:31) Decoding the stock market drop
(02:53) Unpacking three years of AI productivity data
(06:09) Does AI help junior or senior developers more?
(09:54) The surprising group benefitting from AI
(11:45) Why is there a productivity gap?
(13:08) Most companies need a process overhaul
(14:33) Anthropic's alarming discovery
(16:45) So, are we moving quickly enough?
(17:29) The counterintuitive truth about AI productivity
Where to find me:
-
Exponential View newsletter: https://www.exponentialview.co/
-
Website: https://www.azeemazhar.com/ -
-
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/azhar
-
Twitter/X: https://x.com/azeem
Production by supermix.io and EPIIPLUS1
Production and research: Chantal Smith, Hannah Petrovic and Marija Gavrilov.
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Junior roles in AI-exposed fields are disappearing fast.
The obvious culprit is AI rapidly automating entry-level jobs. And yet, this isn't quite right. What is driving the drop is managers’ expectations about what AI will do, not the work that it's already replacing.
I discussed this with Ben Zweig of Revelio Labs, which builds global workforce data from millions of individual profiles to track hiring, separations and job flows. Their data shows how expectation and uncertainty are reshaping the market.
Together, we explored the future of work and shared practical advice for new grads.
We covered:
(01:15) What's happening in the labor market?
(05:27) The inherent complexity of the labor market
(06:24) How Revelio Labs captures labor market data
(08:39) "The Canary in the Coal Mine"
(11:52) Who does AI exposure harm the most?
(13:01) How AI anticipation is harming the job market
(15:15) Testing the expectation mismatch hypothesis
(17:30) Could AI be creating more jobs?
(20:44) Breaking down jobs into smaller tasks
(27:33) Why large companies struggle to reorganize
(30:35) Focus on creating adaptive, flexible roles
(36:03) Managing AI's increasing capability
(39:11) What entry-level workers need to do
Where to find me:
-
Exponential View newsletter: https://www.exponentialview.co/
-
Website: https://www.azeemazhar.com/
-
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/azhar
-
Twitter/X: https://x.com/azeem
Where to find Ben:
-
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-zweig/
-
Twitter/X: https://x.com/BJZweig
-
Revelio Labs: https://www.reveliolabs.com/
Production by supermix.io and EPIIPLUS1
Production and research: Chantal Smith, Hannah Petrovic and Marija Gavrilov.
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
The AI boom isn’t just about chatbots.
In this video, I explain why cloud companies and chipmakers are exploding in value: we’re moving into an economy where computation becomes a fundamental input – like steel, electricity or oil.
If that’s true, our demand for compute could approach infinity.
I also break down new data from Wharton’s 2025 AI Adoption Report, which shows how AI agents and automated workflows are already spreading through major U.S. companies: https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/special-report/2025-ai-adoption-report/
Timestamps:
(00:00) The economic shift to computation (00:40) The surprising Cloud business boom (02:52) Is the hardware industry growth a bubble? (03:18) What is computing, really? (04:31) Our insatiable appetite for computing (09:15) Our economic dependence on computation (10:54) The rise of agentic workforces (13:05) What does infinite demand actually mean? (15:23) The future of compute demand
Where to find me:
- Exponential View newsletter: https://www.exponentialview.co/
- Website: https://www.azeemazhar.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/azhar
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/azeem
Production by supermix.io and EPIIPLUS1
Production and research: Chantal Smith, Hannah Petrovic and Marija Gavrilov.
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
In this episode, I speak with Jordan Schneider, creator of Chinatalk, to explore the new phase of US–China competition. Both countries are using trade policy, export controls and industrial strategy to shift the balance of global power. Yet, their economies remain tightly bound.
We cover:
(01:34) The US and China’s decoupling
(07:28) Why attempts to control China backfired
(08:51) Understanding the Oct. 9th rare Earth rules
(11:27) The modern iteration of Chinese communism
(14:23) Is decoupling a strategy to avoid weaponization?
(16:12) US leadership might be shooting from the hip
(19:22) Are system changes inherently messy?
(21:27) “Vibe-based” sovereignty
(26:03) AI incumbents aren’t entrenched—yet
(29:07) Why China remains focused on AI deployment
(32:45) The different versions of tech-accelerationism
(33:37) How will societies withstand rapid change?
(36:54) What the West can learn from China
(40:10) Where China is most misunderstood
(43:14) Imagining an improved US-China relationship
Where to find Jordan:
- Substack: https://substack.com/@chinatalk
- YouTube: @ChinaTalkMedia
- Linkedin: / jorschneider
- X: https://x.com/jordanschnyc
Where to find me:
- Substack: https://www.exponentialview.co/
- Website: https://www.azeemazhar.com/
- LinkedIn:/ azhar
- X: https://x.com/azeem
Produced by EPIIPLUS1 Ltd and supermix.io
Production and research: Chantal Smith, Hannah Petrovic and Marija Gavrilov.
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Azeem Azhar sat down with Matthew Prince, co-founder & CEO of Cloudflare. Matthew is a rare operator with the vantage point to answer a simple question: if agents do the reading, who gets paid?
This conversation is a practical map of how AI “answer engines” upend the web’s traffic-funded model – and what could replace it.
Chapters:
- (00:46) The currency of the web is dying
- (06:08) Google's inflection point
- (10:08) Why a broken business model might save the internet
- (14:44) The incentivization of ragebait
- (20:38) Content scarcity as a solution
- (24:35) What could a new content business model look like?
- (28:51) The challenge of pricing information
- (29:31) How Cloudflare thinks about the creator economy
- (32:06) Should smaller companies pay less?
- (34:24) Can markets solve this without Congress?
- (39:11) How does the agentic web affect content?
- (43:40) A rare chance to redesign the internet
Produced by EPIIPLUS1 Ltd and supermix.io
Production and research: Chantal Smith, Hannah Petrovic, Nathan Warren and Marija Gavrilov.
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
In this episode, I spoke with Dan Wang, author of “Breakneck: China’s Quest to Engineer the Future”, shortlisted for the FT & Schroders Business Book of the Year.
Dan is one of the most astute observers of China’s technological and industrial development, and his annual letters from Beijing have long been required reading for those seeking to understand the country’s evolving role in the world.
We unpacked a bold thesis: China is not merely a competitor in AI and tech, but is re-imagining its entire state apparatus as an engineering state - in contrast to the more “lawyerly” institutions of the US and UK.
If you’re interested in AI, energy or geopolitics, this conversation is for you.
We covered:
(00:47) Why China is an engineering state
(03:40) China’s pro-engineering disposition
(06:08) The role of market competition in China
(08:07) Living through Zero COVID
(11:35) What political science terms get wrong
(12:58) Characteristics of a lawyerly society
(15:23) What Americans misunderstand about China
(21:54) Has China produced essential tech?
(23:50) The AI divide: China vs. US
(27:45) Differences in energy production
(32:07) The inherent value of process knowledge
(38:34) Is the US developing pro-engineering policies?
(44:23) What does it take for countries to compete?
Where to find me:
- Substack: https://www.exponentialview.co/
- Website: https://www.azeemazhar.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/azhar
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/azeem
Where to find Dan:
- Website: https://danwang.co/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danwang15/
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/danwwang
Production by supermix.io and EPIIPLUS1 Ltd, including Chantal Smith, Marija Gavrilov, Nathan Warren and Hannah Petrovic.
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Is AI a bubble? In this episode, I unpack a new five-gauge framework for understanding the biggest question in tech.
Drawing on lessons from past manias – railways, telecoms, the dot-com boom – and grounding our analysis in fresh data, we examine economic strain, revenue growth, valuations, and the quality of capital fueling AI’s ascent. This is our effort to cut through hype and fatalism to provide a clear dashboard: where today’s AI build-out looks like a genuine boom, and where early warning signs of bubble dynamics may be emerging.
Whether you’re an investor, policymaker, or executive, this framework offers a disciplined way to navigate the noise.
Jump to the best parts:
- (00:29) Echoes of the past
- (01:31) The 5 gauge framework
- (01:54) Gauge #1: Investment intensity
- (03:45) Gauge #2: Monetization level
- (04:48) Gauge #3: Revenue trajectory
- (06:23) Gauge #4: Valuation level
- (07:24) Gauge #5: Quality of capital
- (10:10) Overall assessment
Produced by EPIIPLUS1 and Supermix.
Thanks to my team: Nathan Warren, Hannah Petrovic, Chantal Smith & Marija Gavrilov
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
GPT-5 was the most advanced AI when it was released, but most people were disappointed. Why?
In this episode, I unpack the two key paradoxes that shape how we judge new technology: shifting goalposts and negative space.
Timestamps:
(0:00) The reaction to GPT-5
(0:40) First paradox
(2:55) Second paradox
(5:29) Why this matters
Dig deeper: https://www.exponentialview.co/p/the-paradox-of-gpt-5
Production by supermix.io and EPIIPLUS1 Ltd, including Chantal Smith, Marija Gavrilov, Nathan Warren and Hannah Petrovic.
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Can AI stocks beat Big Tech? In this episode, I discuss OpenAI and its decision to expand a secondary share sale that lets insiders sell about $10.3 billion of stock at roughly a $500 billion valuation. Although skeptical at first, the calculations reveal there is a path for OpenAI to deliver outsized returns.
I cover:
(0:00) The $500B question
(01:11) Why the Nasdaq Index is the benchmark
(03:35) Inside the OpenAI-Microsoft deal
(05:50) The bull case: OpenAI’s trillion-dollar path
(09:33) The AI market explosion
(12:39) The bear case: Competition and constraints
(17:13) Exploring the models of tomorrow
(20:58) The disruption premium
(23:21) Where will OpenAI’s revenue come from?
(29:14) The final verdict
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
This is the single most important paper to come out in tech in recent weeks. Erik Brynjolfsson, Bharat Chandar and Ruyu Chen investigated whether generative AI is leading to job losses in roles most exposed to AI – and how these effects differ by age and the way AI is used. In this episode, I break down these results and their implications.
I covered:
(01:17) Key finding
(03:32) What’s going on here?
(06:13) A canary in the coal mine?
(8:21) The dataset studied and why it matters
(10:34) The sectors impacted and why it matters
(12:37) Why don't firms just reduce salaries?
(14:34) Historical parallels with electricity
(17:20) How leadership impacts job losses
(20:46) Implications for policy, education, equity
(24:53) Outro
Where to find me:
-
Substack: https://www.exponentialview.co/
-
Website: https://www.azeemazhar.com/
-
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/azhar?originalSubdomain=uk
-
Twitter/X: https://x.com/azeem
Production by supermix.io and EPIIPLUS1
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Nick Thompson, CEO of The Atlantic, led one of the first major content licensing deals with OpenAI in 2024. In this conversation, he joins Azeem to unpack how AI is transforming media – and what that means for every business navigating the shifting economics of attention, trust, and discovery.
We cover:
(01:49) Journalism’s four horsemen
(5:33) The collapse of search
(9:07) Cloudflare’s counterattack
(13:56) Is this the search-traffic fix?
(17:42) Rise of the sovereign creator
(22:57) Do great writers need editors?
(26:22) Why conservatives win new media
(27:17) How Substack drives discovery
(31:08) East Coast vs. West Coast ethics
(35:11) How Nick uses AI in writing
(42:13) Is AI friend or foe to journalism?
(45:32) The Atlantic’s survival plan
Nick's links:
The Atlantic: https://www.theatlantic.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicholasxthompson/
Twitter/X: https://x.com/nxthompson
Substack: https://nxthompson.substack.com
Azeem's links:
Substack: https://www.exponentialview.co/
Website: https://www.azeemazhar.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/azhar
Twitter/X: https://x.com/azeem
Produced by supermix.io and EPIIPLUS1 Ltd
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
At the start of the year, I made seven predictions about how 2025 would unfold. Six months in, it's time to mark my own work. From AI capability breakthroughs to autonomous vehicles, climate extremes to workforce transformation, I examine what I got right, what I missed, and why the 2027-2028 period will be when vertical AI hits the real economy in force.
In this episode you’ll hear:
- The AI wall that never came: Ten-million-token models exist, O3 scores 25% on Frontier Math vs GPT-4's 2%, but some models are inconsistent and overthink problems
- When bots officially out-talk humans: My modeling shows LLMs crossed the threshold of producing more text than humans sometime this summer
- The Waymo vs Uber SF battle: They've beaten Lyft and expanded to New York, but Tesla's Austin robo-taxi fleet changes the competitive landscape
- Climate and energy predictions that were "too easy": Record climate extremes, 30% solar growth, and Indonesia's stunning EV jump from 20% to 80% in two years
- What I completely missed: The AI capex boom, humanoid robots at Figure/BMW/Amazon, and workforce impact with CEOs reporting 20-50% AI assistance
- Why getting too many predictions right is a problem: I reflect on whether scoring too well means I didn't push boundaries enough in my forecasting
- The 2027-2028 turbulence ahead: Why four-year-old AI startups challenging incumbents while early adopters reap deep organizational benefits will create economic turbulence
Our new show
This was originally recorded for “Friday with Azeem Azhar”, a new show that takes place every Friday at 9am PT and 12pm ET. You can tune in through my Substack linked below.
The format is experimental and we’d love your feedback, so feel free to comment or email your thoughts to our team at live@exponentialview.co.
Azeem’s links:
- Substack: https://www.exponentialview.co/
- Website: https://www.azeemazhar.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/azhar?originalSubdomain=uk
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/azeem
Timestamps:
(00:00) Grading my predictions from January 2025
(01:23) #1: No AI Wall
(03:59) #2: Warp-speed deployment
(05:16) #3: Bots out-talk humans
(06:24) #4: Waymo overtakes Uber in SF
(08:31) #5: Climate extremes intensify
(09:09) #6: Solar keeps breaking records
(10:06) #7: EVs shift up a gear
(11:12) The problem with predicting too accurately
(12:01) What I missed
(12:14) The CapEx boom around AI
(13:56) The rise of humanoid robots
(14:36) AI's impact on the workforce
(18:40) Looking ahead
(18:48) Infrastructure first, apps next
(19:52) 2027/2028 will be a "period of fireworks"
(21:39) When we'll find out if AI is a bubble
(23:02) A question for the future
Production:
Production by supermix.io and EPIIPLUS1 Ltd
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
In this episode, I reflect on a whirlwind three-day visit to China - my first in over 20 years. And what I saw was remarkable. The infrastructure puts most of the West to shame. The AI isn't just hype - it's working at serious scale. And the electric vehicles? They're about to steamroll the global auto industry. Here's what really struck me during my whirlwind trip to Beijing and beyond.
In this episode you'll hear:
- Infrastructure built at speed: Beijing's immaculate airport, 300 km/h rail to Tianjin for £17, and pristine expressways that put US infrastructure to shame.
- Verticalised AI in action: While Chinese labs trail US frontier models and face compute constraints, they're excelling in verticals - profitable robotaxis in Wuhan, healthcare AI analyzing 5.5 billion medical records, and Squirrel AI's $200m education platform that outperforms China's best human teachers.
- EV cost leadership is set: Chinese electric vehicles are absolutely remarkable. Years of vicious domestic competition have created incredible innovation and cost discipline that will hit European carmakers like a sledgehammer.
- The air quality transformation: Beijing at 37°C was clean enough for a morning run, thanks to widespread EV adoption.
- Scale that defies comprehension: Convention centers 100 times the size of Union Square, cities of 20 million people, and AI platforms serving tens of millions of users.
Our new show
This was originally recorded for “Friday with Azeem Azhar”, a new show that takes place every Friday at 9am PT and 12pm ET. You can tune in through my Substack linked below.
The format is experimental and we’d love your feedback, so feel free to comment or email your thoughts to our team at live@exponentialview.co.
Azeem’s links:
- Substack: https://www.exponentialview.co/
- Website: https://www.azeemazhar.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/azhar?originalSubdomain=uk
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/azeem
Timestamps:
(00:00) Surprises at the airport
(01:21) Immense scale
(01:54) 3 areas of interest
(02:37) Chinese infrastructure and engineering
(03:22) ~180mph train, £17 fare
(04:29) Multi-lane expressways built for scale
(05:55) Development of AI in china
(06:09) China leans into vertical AI
(08:12) Apollo robotaxis: unit-cost positive
(09:33) Yidu Tech: 5.5B health records
(10:35) Squirrel AI outperforms top teachers
(14:29) EVs & clean air
(16:14) BYD x Octopus: earn by charging
(18:30) EV boom improves Beijing air
(19:56) Luxury Chinese EV interior
(21:08) Closing thoughts
Production by supermix.io and EPIIPLUS1 Ltd.
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Broadcasting live from Paris, I tackle three massive technology stories that are reshaping our digital future. From Apple's stunning interface redesign to the collapse of traditional search advertising, and Sam Altman's vision of an AI singularity that's already begun - this episode captures the tectonic shifts happening in tech right now.
I cover:
(1:32) WWDC 2025: Apple’s AI challenges and new UI
(6:06) The decline of Google’s ad model
(10:08) Sam Altman’s Gentle Singularity essay
(19:37) Live audience Q&A
(19:45) Is the singularity really about Altman?
(22:13) Is France carrying Europe’s AI dreams?
(24:58) Are you seeing promising AI hardware?
(27:42) How will AI change software pricing?
Our new show
This was originally recorded for “Friday with Azeem Azhar”, a new show that takes place every Friday at 9am PT and 12pm ET. You can tune in through my Substack linked below.
The format is experimental and we’d love your feedback, so feel free to comment or email your thoughts to our team at live@exponentialview.co.
Azeem’s links:
- Substack: https://www.exponentialview.co/
- Website: https://www.azeemazhar.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/azhar?originalSubdomain=uk
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/azeem
Production by supermix.io and EPIIPLUS1 Ltd.
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
This week, I'm speaking with Kevin Weil, Chief Product Officer at OpenAI, who is steering product development at what might be the world's most important company right now.
We talk about:
(00:00) Episode trailer
(01:37) OpenAI's latest launches
(03:43) What it's like being CPO of OpenAI
(04:34) How AI will reshape our lives
(07:23) How young people use AI differently
(09:29) Addressing fears about AI
(11:47) Kevin's "Oh sh!t" moment
(14:11) Why have so many models within ChatGPT?
(18:19) The unpredictability of AI product progress
(24:47) Understanding model “evals”
(27:21) How important is prompt engineering?
(29:18) Defining “AI agent”
(37:00) Why OpenAI views coding as a prime target use-case
(41:24) The "next model test” for any AI startup
(46:06) Jony Ive's role at OpenAI
(47:50) OpenAI's hardware vision
(50:41) Quickfire questions
(52:43) When will we get AGI?
Kevin's links:
LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinweil/
Twitter/X: @kevinweil
Azeem's links:
Substack: https://www.exponentialview.co/
Website: https://www.azeemazhar.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/azhar
Twitter/X: https://x.com/azeem
Our new show:
This was originally recorded for "Friday with Azeem Azhar", a new show that takes place every Friday at 9am PT and 12pm ET. You can tune in through Exponential View on Substack.
Produced by supermix.io and EPIIPLUS1 Ltd.
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Economist and polymath Tyler Cowen challenges Silicon Valley's optimistic projections about AI-driven economic growth. We explore what could slow AI's economic impact, despite its remarkable capabilities – and where humans find the new normal amidst major shifts.
Timestamps:
(00:00) Episode trailer
(01:47) The problem with Silicon Valley's AI-driven growth projections
(06:02) The institutional bottleneck to AI progress
(10:49) Markets aren’t pricing in a radical AI future
(12:53) Are we heading for a great job displacement?
(17:02) Is GDP still worth talking about?
(19:11) Who does AI benefit most?
(21:11) Will AI cause a human identity crisis?
(27:11) The education system’s failure to adapt
(35:34) How the Gulf could become a geopolitical powerhouse
(39:10) Could AI change religion?
(46:46) Closing thoughts
Tyler's links:
Marginal Revolution Blog: https://marginalrevolution.com/
Twitter/X: https://x.com/tylercowen
Azeem's links:
Substack: https://www.exponentialview.co/
Website: https://www.azeemazhar.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/azhar
Twitter/X: https://x.com/azeem
Our new show
This was originally recorded for "Friday with Azeem Azhar", a new show that takes place every Friday at 9am PT and 12pm ET. You can tune in through Exponential View on Substack.
Produced by supermix.io and EPIIPLUS1 LTD
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Thomas Dohmke, CEO of GitHub, joins Azeem to explore how AI is fundamentally transforming software development. In this episode you'll hear:
- (01:50) What’s left for developers in the age of AI?
- (04:54) How GitHub Copilot unlocks flow state
- (07:09) Three big shifts in how engineers work today
- (10:47) Is software development art or assembly line?
- (15:26) Why developers are climbing the abstraction ladder
- (19:35) Have we already lost control of the code?
- (23:15) What it’s actually like to work with AI coding agents
- (39:35) Welcome to the age of ultra-personalized software
- (45:37) Building the next-generation web
Thomas's links:
- GitHub: https://github.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashtom/
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/ashtom
Azeem's links:
- Substack: https://www.exponentialview.co/
- Website: https://www.azeemazhar.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/azhar
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/azeem
Our new show This was originally recorded for "Friday with Azeem Azhar", a new show that takes place every Friday at 9am PT and 12pm ET. You can tune in through Exponential View on Substack. Produced by supermix.io and EPIIPLUS1 Ltd
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Aaron Levie, CEO & co-founder of Box, joins Azeem Azhar to explore how an “AI-first” mindset is reshaping every layer of Box – from product road-maps to pricing – and what that teaches the rest of us about building faster, smarter organisations.
Timestamps:
(00:00) Episode trailer
(02:04) The "lump of labor fallacy" in sci-fi books
(07:37) When individual productivity gains don’t translate to teams
(12:32) Box’s Friday AI demos
(21:23) How agents might redefine 100 years of management science
(26:37) A lesson on AI innovation from the early days of Ford
(29:52) Sundar Pichai, Satya Nadella, and Sergey Brin are coding again?
(35:16) Pricing in a post-AI agent world
(38:43) Cheaper tokens, heavier usage: AI’s margin math
(43:02) Solving AI’s verifiability problem
(48:24) How Aaron uses AI in his personal life
Aaron's links:
- Box: https://www.box.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/boxaaron/
- X/Twitter: https://x.com/levie
Azeem’s links:
- Substack: https://www.exponentialview.co/
- Website: https://www.azeemazhar.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/azhar
- X/Twitter: https://x.com/azeem
This conversation was recorded for “Friday with Azeem Azhar”, live every Friday at 9 am PT / 12 pm ET. Catch it via Exponential View on Substack.
Produced by supermix.io and EPIIPLUS1 Ltd
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Lennart Heim, a researcher and information scientist at RAND Corporation, joins Azeem Azhar to unpack a provocative claim: China is catching up with US AI capabilities, but it doesn't matter.
Timestamps:
(00:00) Episode trailer
(01:19) Lennart’s core thesis
(03:26) Why compute matters so much
(07:31) The investment split between model R&D and model execution
(11:18) How test-time compute impacts costs
(16:14) The geopolitics of compute
(21:32) Why does the U.S have more compute capacity than China?
(25:01) The trade-off between economic needs and national-security needs
(31:54) How technology change might shift the battlegrounds
(35:33) Dealing with compute and power concentration
(48:19) Concluding quick-fire question
Lennart's links:
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/ohlennart
- Personal blog: https://heim.xyz/
Azeem's links:
- Substack: https://www.exponentialview.co/
- Website: https://www.azeemazhar.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/azhar
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/azeem
This was originally recorded for "Friday with Azeem Azhar", a new show that takes place every Friday at 9am PT and 12pm ET. You can tune in through Exponential View on Substack.
Produced by supermix.io and EPIIPLUS1 Ltd
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Greg Jackson, CEO of Octopus Energy, joins Azeem to discuss the Iberian blackout and how we can create a more stable, flexible, and resilient energy grid for the future. This conversation digs into grid technology, market structures, and the real opportunities of the clean energy transition.
- (00:00) Episode trailer
- (01:38) What caused the Iberian blackout?
- (04:55) Managing load in traditional vs renewable grids
- (11:57) The role of market incentives
- (18:13) Greg's social experiments within the UK grid
- (23:49) How the "virtual power plant" is becoming a reality
- (26:59) The path to completing the renewable energy transition
- (33:15) Are lobbyists slowing down the transition?
- (36:26) What does the next 5-10 years look like?
- (40:42) Why the name "Octopus?"
Greg's links:
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/g__j
- LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/gregsjackson
- Octopus Energy: https://octopus.energy/
Azeem's links:
- Substack: https://www.exponentialview.co/
- Website: https://www.azeemazhar.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/azhar
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/azeem
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Physicist and entrepreneur Steve Hsu, whose startup Superfocus tackles hallucination problems in large language models, joins Azeem to discuss AI agents, hallucination challenges and what happens when technology meets labor markets.
They discuss:
(01:31) The deeper shift that Superfocus represents
(07:00) Will models overcome hallucination?
(10:15) AI Agents can replace 80-90% of call center calls
(12:27) What it’s like showing customer support AI to customer support people
(22:36) China's mayors are like mini CEOs
(30:05) What will matter most in the supposed "AI race"?
(35:58) DeepSeek was not part of the Chinese Government
(38:23) How open source will change the future of deployment
(40:59) What the public doesn't understand about AI tail risk
(48:01) How AI plush toys can teach French to 2-year-olds
This was originally recorded for "Friday with Azeem Azhar", a new show that takes place every Friday at 9am PT and 12pm ET. You can tune in through Exponential View on Substack.
Produced by supermix.io and EPIIPLUS1 Ltd
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Sir Niall Ferguson, renowned historian and Milbank Family Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, joins Azeem Azhar to discuss the evolving relationship between the U.S. and China, Trump's foreign policy doctrine, and what the new global economic and security order might look like.
(00:00) What most analysts are missing about Trump
(05:43) The win-win outcome in Europe–U.S relations
(11:17) How the U.S. is reestablishing deterrence
(15:50) Can the U.S. economy weather the impact of tariffs?
(23:33) Niall's read on China
(29:29) How is China performing in tech?
(33:35) What might happen with Taiwan
(42:43) Predictions for the coming world order
Sir Niall Ferguson's links:
- Substack: Time Machine
- Books: War of the World, Doom: The Politics of Catastrophe
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/nfergus
Azeem's links:
- Substack: https://www.exponentialview.co/
- Website: https://www.azeemazhar.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/azhar
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/azeem
Our new show This was originally recorded for "Friday with Azeem Azhar" on 28 March.
Produced by supermix.io and EPIIPLUS1 Ltd
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
In this episode, Azeem Azhar speaks with Ryan Petersen, CEO and founder of logistics platform Flexport, about the current state of global trade amidst escalating tariffs, geopolitical tensions, and technological disruption. Ryan offers unique insights from the frontlines of the US-China trade war and explores how businesses are adapting to a rapidly changing landscape.
(00:00) Episode trailer
(01:12) Ryan's overall thoughts and predictions
(03:40) Why shipping is crucial to your everyday life
(08:07) Why tariffs may actually increase global shipping
(11:34) Who’s pausing their China shipments?
(14:29) The mindset of Flexport customers right now
(16:02) Is this the end of globalization?
(21:48) The fragility and resiliency of global trade
(25:27) The most underrated story in the world
(30:25) How tech has changed global trade
(36:31) Who will win in the new trade settings?
(41:20) What could a U.S-China trade deal look like?
Ryan's links:
Flexport https://www.flexport.com/
Twitter/X https://x.com/typesfast
LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/rpetersen/
Azeem's links:
Substack: https://www.exponentialview.co/
Website: https://www.azeemazhar.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/azhar
Twitter/X: https://x.com/azeem
Our new show
This was originally recorded for "Friday with Azeem Azhar", a new show that takes place every Friday at 9am PT and 12pm ET. You can tune in through my Substack linked below. The format is experimental and we'd love your feedback, so feel free to comment or email your thoughts to our team at live@exponentialview.co.
Produced by supermix.io and EPIIPLUS1 Ltd
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Azeem Azhar welcomes Packy McCormick, founder and investor at Not Boring, to discuss the current tech landscape.
In this episode you'll hear:
(01:50) What Packy got wrong (and right) about Web3
(10:17) The shift to "know thyself and know thyself-nots"
(14:28) Europe just woke up
(18:46) Bits and atoms are cool again
(21:10) London airport shutdown reveals a deeper challenge
(23:32) A new kind of home energy infrastructure
(29:28) A theory on Eric Schmidt's new CEO role
(34:08) What's the role of nuclear in a solar + battery world?
(40:33) The coming tech boom
Our new show This was originally recorded for "Friday with Azeem Azhar", a new show that takes place every Friday at 9am PT and 12pm ET. You can tune in through my Substack linked below. The format is experimental and we'd love your feedback, so feel free to comment or email your thoughts to our team at live@exponentialview.co.
Packy's links:
- Substack: https://www.notboring.co/
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/packyM
Azeem's links:
- Substack: https://www.exponentialview.co/
- Website: https://www.azeemazhar.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/azhar
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/azeem
Produced by supermix.io and EPIIPLUS1 Ltd
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Anthropic's co-founder and chief scientist Jared Kaplan discusses AI's rapid evolution, the shorter-than-expected timeline to human-level AI, and how Claude's "thinking time" feature represents a new frontier in AI reasoning capabilities.
In this episode you'll hear:
- Why Jared believes human-level AI is now likely to arrive in 2-3 years instead of by 2030
- How AI models are developing the ability to handle increasingly complex tasks that would take humans hours or days
- The importance of constitutional AI and interpretability research as essential guardrails for increasingly powerful systems
Our new show
This was originally recorded for "Friday with Azeem Azhar", a new show that takes place every Friday at 9am PT and 12pm ET on Exponential View. You can tune in through my Substack linked below. The format is experimental and we'd love your feedback, so feel free to comment or email your thoughts to our team at live@exponentialview.co.
Timestamps:
(00:00) Episode trailer
(01:27) Jared's updated prediction for reaching human-level intelligence
(08:12) What will limit scaling laws?
(11:13) How long will we wait between model generations?
(16:27) Why test-time scaling is a big deal
(21:59) There’s no reason why DeepSeek can’t be competitive algorithmically
(25:31) Has Anthropic changed their approach to safety vs speed?
(30:08) Managing the paradoxes of AI progress
(32:21) Can interpretability and monitoring really keep AI safe?
(39:43) Are model incentives misaligned with public interests?
(42:36) How should we prepare for electricity-level impact?
(51:15) What Jared is most excited about in the next 12 months
Jared's links:
- Anthropic: https://www.anthropic.com/
Azeem's links:
- Substack: https://www.exponentialview.co/
- Website: https://www.azeemazhar.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/azhar
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/azeem
Produced by supermix.io
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Kevin Kelly is a co-founder of Wired Magazine and a renowned author and futurist. Decades ago, Kevin predicted much of today's technological and cultural landscape. In this discussion, he presents his new bold vision for what’s coming next: The Handoff to Bots.
In this episode, you’ll hear:
- Why declining populations will radically reshape economies
- What a bot-to-bot economy could look and feel like
- Why people of the future might be paid to read emails
- How AI could help humanity find deeper purpose
- Why this future might be closer than you think
Kevin’s links:
Website/blog: https://kk.org/
Twitter/X: https://x.com/kevin2kelly
Instagram: / kevin2kelly
Azeem's links:
Substack: https://www.exponentialview.co/
Website: https://www.azeemazhar.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/azhar?ori...
Twitter/X: https://x.com/azeem
Timestamps:
(00:00) Intro
(02:17) The baby black hole behind Kevin's theory
(10:49) Kevin's thesis: The handoff to bots
(15:05) This world is closer than we think
(19:32) The role of humans in this new world
(21:23) Could monopoly influence pose a problem?
(28:33) The nature of “struggle” in this new world
(32:42) Could we see countries competing for population?
(36:06) How a scarcity of humans might change what we value
(42:30) What would 1994 Kevin think of 2025 Kevin's blog?
Production:
Production by supermix.io
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Kai-Fu Lee joins me to discuss AI in 2025. Kai-Fu is a storied AI researcher, investor, inventor and entrepreneur based in Taiwan. As one of the leading AI experts based in Asia, I wanted to get his take on this particular market.
Key insights:
- Kai-Fu noted that unlike the singular “ChatGPT moment” that stunned Western audiences, the Chinese market encountered generative AI in a more “incremental and distributed” fashion.
- A particularly fascinating shift is how Chinese enterprises are adopting generative AI. Without the entrenched SaaS layers common in the US, Chinese companies are “rolling their own” solutions. This deep integration might be tougher and messier, but it encourages thorough, domain-specific implementations.
- We reflected on a structural shift in how we think about productivity software. With AI “conceptualizing” the document and the user providing strategic nudges, it’s akin to reversing the traditional creative process.
- We’re moving from a training-centric world to an inference-centric one. Models need to be cheaper, faster and less resource-intensive to run, not just to train. For instance, his team at ZeroOne.ai managed to train a top-tier model on “just” 2,000 H100 GPUs and bring inference costs down to 10 cents per million tokens—a fraction of GPT-4’s early costs.
- In 2025, Kai-Fu predicts, we’ll see fewer “demos” and more “AI-first” applications deploying text, image and video generation tools into real-world workflows.
Connect with us:
- Exponential View
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Nathan Benaich, Founder and General Partner of Air Street Capital, joins me to discuss AI in 2025. From runaway consumer adoption to evolving enterprise moats, from still-elusive AI-driven drug breakthroughs to the renewed vigour in robotics, several core themes stood out.
1. Frontier models & AI at scale
In 2024, we witnessed the astonishing growth of frontier models and their deployment on a massive scale. OpenAI’s GPT-4 and GPT-4 o1, Anthropic’s Claude and Google’s Gemini have all demonstrated that being “at the frontier” is increasingly the price of admission.
2. Consumers, voice and infinite worlds
On the consumer side, we have reason to believe 2025 will be the year of AI-enabled workflows that feel truly natural. Voice, multimodality and integration into daily routines—like transcribing my morning thoughts during a commute—are becoming routine.
3. Accelerating science & drug discovery
While AI accelerates lab automation and data analysis—improving reproducibility and speeding up processes—the promised “AI-designed blockbuster drug” is still in the pipeline. Clinical timelines and regulatory hurdles do not compress easily.
4. Geopolitics, funding and the sovereign question
As training costs skyrocket and models require unimaginable scale, questions mount… Who funds these massive compute requirements? Will nation-states view these labs as strategic assets, akin to telecoms or chipmakers?
5. From explosive capability gains to refined utility
We’ve grown numb to what was once astonishing—perfect speech synthesis, infinite text generation, zero-shot coding. The capabilities of models now surpass human levels in many benchmarks. The next major shifts may be subtler, or simply less obviously spectacular.
Connect with us:
- Exponential View
- Nathan Benaich
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Dylan Patel, founder of SemiAnalysis and one of my go-to experts on semiconductors and data center infrastructure joins me to discuss AI in 2025. Several key themes emerged about where AI might be headed in 2025:
1/ Big Tech’s accelerating CapEx and market adjustments
The hyperscalers are racing ahead in capital expenditure, with Microsoft’s annual outlay likely to surpass $80 billion (up from around $15 billion just five years ago). By mid-decade, total annual investments in AI-driven data centers could climb from around $150–200 billion today to $400–500 billion. While these expansions power more advanced models and services, such rapid spending raises questions for investors. Are shareholders ready for ongoing, multi-fold increases in data center build-outs?
2/ The competitive landscape and new infrastructure players
The expected explosion in AI workloads is drawing in a wave of new specialized GPU cloud providers—names like CoreWeave, Niveus, Crusoe—each gunning to become the next vital utility layer of AI compute. Unlike the hyperscalers, these players tap different pools of capital, including real-estate-like finance and private credit, enabling them to ramp up aggressively. This dynamic threatens the established order and could squeeze margins as competition heats up. The market is starting to understand that.
3/ The semiconductor supply chain isn’t the only bottleneck
We often talk about GPU shortages, but the real sticking point is broader infrastructural complexity. Yes, Nvidia and TSMC can ramp up chip supply. But even if you have enough high-end silicon, you still need power infrastructure and grid connectivity. Building multi-gigawatt data centers in the US—each the size of a utility-scale power plant—is now firmly on the agenda. In some states, data centers already consume 30% of the grid’s electricity. By 2027, AI data centers alone could account for 10% or more of total US electricity consumption, straining America’s aging infrastructure.
4/ Commoditization of models and margin pressure
A year ago, advanced language models were scarce and expensive. Today, open-source variants like Llama 3.1 are driving commoditization at speed, slicing away the profit margins of plain-vanilla model-serving. If your model doesn’t outperform the best open source, you’re forced to compete on price—and that’s a race to the bottom. Currently, only a handful of players (OpenAI and Anthropic among them) enjoy meaningful margins. As models proliferate, value will increasingly flow to those offering distinctive tools, integrating closely into enterprise workflows and locking in switching costs.
5/ Into 2025: exponential curves and new market norms
Despite these challenges—soaring costs, stalled infrastructure build-outs, margin erosion—Dylan is confident that exponential scaling will continue. The sector’s appetite for GPUs, specialized chips and next-gen data centers appears insatiable. We could easily see record-breaking fundraising rounds north of $10 billion for private AI ventures—funded by sovereign wealth funds and other capital pools that have barely scratched the surface of their capacity to invest in AI infrastructure. There’s also a very tangible productivity angle. AI coding assistants continue to reduce the cost of software development. Some software companies could be looking at 20–30% staff reductions in these technical teams as high-level coding becomes automated. This shift, still in its early days, will have profound downstream effects on the entire software ecosystem.
Find us:
- Exponential View
- SemiAnalysis
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As we race towards a future powered by AI and data centres, how will the insatiable demand for energy impact the environment? With the richest companies ploughing billions into energy generation, might there be some unexpected upsides for the climate transition? And can exponential technologies address the climate crisis on a finite planet?
Cleaning Up host Michael Liebreich sits down with Azeem Azhar, founder of Exponential View, to explore the complex relationship between exponential growth, climate change, and the societal implications of transformative technologies. Michael and Azeem delve into the promises and pitfalls of a future shaped by the rapid advancements in renewable energy, battery storage, and artificial intelligence.
This podcast was originally published on Cleaning Up.
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Artificial Intelligence is on every business leader’s agenda. How do we make sense of the fast-moving new developments in AI over the past year? Azeem Azhar returns to bring clarity to leaders who face a complicated information landscape.
This week, Azeem speaks with Richard Socher, CEO and founder of You.com, an AI chatbot search engine at the forefront of truthful and verifiable AI. They explore approaches to building AI systems that are both truthful and verifiable. The conversation sheds light on the critical breakthroughs in AI, the technical challenges of ensuring AI’s reliability, and Socher’s vision for the future of search.
They also discuss:
- How AI’s future is tied to advancements in natural language processing.
- The role of scientific rigor in large language models’ current and future developments.
- The founding of You.com and its mission to revolutionize search.
- Predictions for the next big breakthroughs in AI.
@azeem
@RichardSocher
Further resources:
- Why AI is humanity’s mirror — and what we can learn from it (Richard Socher, TED, 2023)
- The Promise of AI with Fei-Fei Li (Azeem Azhar, Exponential View, 2020)
- AI is the real web3 (Azeem Azhar, Exponential View, 2023)
As 2024 begins, leaders are facing increasing uncertainty and a host of difficult decisions. Azeem Azhar returns to bring clarity amid a complicated information landscape, with his analysis of 12 core themes that will shape the year ahead, including AI adoption, geopolitics, decentralization, the energy transition, and more.
The discussion specifically touches on:
- What will drive widespread corporate adoption of AI.
- How to think about the emergence of new business models around AI.
- What you need to know about the new wave of decentralization technologies.
- How leaders should think about an electrified world of stable and declining power prices.
@azeem
Further resources:
- The Horizon for 2024: The Biggest Questions on the Horizon (Azeem Azhar, 2024)
- Notes from a Ski Resort, 2024 Edition (Azeem Azhar, 2024)
Artificial Intelligence is on every business leader’s agenda. How do we make sense of the fast-moving new developments in AI over the past year? Azeem Azhar returns to bring clarity to leaders who face a complicated information landscape.
Generative AI has a lot to offer health care professionals and medical scientists. This week, Azeem speaks with renowned cardiologist, scientist, and author Eric Topol about the change he’s observed among his colleagues in the last two years, as generative AI developments have accelerated in medicine.
They discuss:
- The challenges and benefits of AI in health care.
- The pros and cons of different open-source and closed-source models for health care use.
- The medical technology that has been even more transformative than AI in the past year.
@azeem
@erictopol
Further resources:
- When AI Meets Medicine (Exponential View Podcast, 2019)
- Can AI Catch What Doctors Miss? (Eric Topol, TED, 2023)
Artificial Intelligence is on every business leader’s agenda. How do we make sense of the fast-moving new developments in AI over the past year? Azeem Azhar returns to bring clarity to leaders who face a complicated information landscape.
This week, Azeem joins Sasha Luccioni, an AI researcher and climate lead at Hugging Face, to shed light on the environmental footprint and other immediate impacts of AI, and how they compare to more long-term challenges.
They cover:
- The energy consumption and carbon impact of AI models — and how researchers have gone about measuring it.
- The tangible economic and social impacts of AI, and how focusing on existential risks now hurt our chances of addressing the immediate risks of AI deployment.
- How regulation and governance could evolve to address the most pressing questions of the industry.
@azeem
@SashaMTL
Further resources:
- Power Hungry Processing: Watt’s Driving the Cost of AI Deployment (Alexandra Sasha Luccioni et al, 2023)
- The Open-Source Future of Artificial Intelligence (Exponential View, 2023)
- AI is Dangerous, But Not For the Reasons You Think (TED, Sasha Luccioni, 2023)
Artificial Intelligence is on every business leader’s agenda. How do we make sense of the fast-moving new developments in AI over the past year? Azeem Azhar returns to bring clarity to leaders who face a complicated information landscape.
This week, Azeem joins Alex Kendall, co-founder and CEO of autonomous driving start-up Wayve, to uncover how the AI revolution is enabling new strides in self-driving. They delve into the implications of these advancements for urban mobility and the transformation of cities in the future.
They discuss:
- How business models in the automotive industry are shifting towards AI integration and subscription-based services.
- The role “embodied AI” is playing in shaping everyday assistance, beyond just digital interactions, in the future.
- The challenges and breakthroughs of applying AI in complex, unpredictable environments, like road traffic.
@azeem
@alexgkendall
Further resources:
- Ride the Wayve: Azeem Azhar Goes for an Autonomous Drive on London’s Toughest Roads (Wayve, 2023)
- UK Start-up Wayve Unveils Self-Driving System that Explains Its Actions (Financial Times, 2023)
Artificial Intelligence is on every business leader’s agenda. How do we make sense of the fast-moving new developments in AI over the past year? Azeem Azhar returns to bring clarity to leaders who face a complicated information landscape.
Organizations across the world have been grappling with the opportunities and challenges of generative AI. This week, Azeem joins AI pioneer and entrepreneur Andrew Ng to discuss the intricacies of this moment and debate whether we’re at an inflection point in the AI revolution.
They consider:
- What have organizations learned about AI, and what common mistakes have they made implementing it?
- What does it mean to be at an inflection point in the AI revolution?
- How can regulation support the development of AI?
@azeem
@AndrewYNg
Further resources:
- Andrew Ng: How to Be an Innovator (MIT Technology Review, 2023)
- An Update on the Latest Research on Generative AI and Work (Exponential View, 2023)
- Creating an AI-First Business, with Andrew Ng (Exponential View Podcast, 2019)
Artificial Intelligence is on every business leader’s agenda. How do we make sense of the fast-moving new developments in AI over the past year? In new episodes released throughout December and January, Azeem Azhar returns to bring clarity to leaders who face a complicated information landscape.
This week, Azeem speaks with Aravind Srinivas, the co-founder and CEO of Perplexity.ai, about the looming challenges in AI research and product development, such as user-centric design and the importance of open-source models.
They discuss:
- AI as a tool for democratizing information access.
- The “innovator’s dilemma” for Google Search.
- Whether or not conversational interfaces will become the norm for how we interact with AI.
- The array of interests shaping the AI regulation debate.
@azeem
@AravSrinivas
Further resources:
- How Perplexity.ai Is Pioneering The Future Of Search (Forbes, 2023)
- AI’s First Flight: An Early Milestone in Generalised Intelligence? (Exponential View, 2023)
Artificial Intelligence is on every business leader’s agenda. How do we make sense of the fast-moving new developments in AI over the past year? Azeem Azhar returns to bring clarity to leaders who face a complicated information landscape.
In new episodes released throughout December and January, Azeem and other AI experts will address questions like: What really matters when it comes to AI? How do you ensure the AI systems you deploy are harmless and trustworthy? How can we find the signal amidst so much noise?
The upheaval at OpenAI sent shockwaves through the tech world. Karen Hao, a contributing writer who covers AI at The Atlantic, joins Azeem Azhar to break down the ideologies and power struggles within OpenAI and their implications for the development of artificial intelligence. She also explains how these internal conflicts reflect broader challenges in AI development and governance.
They discuss:
- The ideological schism within OpenAI and the deep-rooted divides that have influenced the organization’s approach to AI safety and development.
- How OpenAI’s mission and its execution reflect broader power dynamics in the tech industry.
- The potential impact of this event on the future of AI and regulatory considerations.
@azeem
@_karenhao
Further resources:
- Inside the Chaos at OpenAI (The Atlantic, 2023)
- Sam Altman and the Board of Secrets (Exponential View, 2023)
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is on every business leader’s agenda. How do you ensure the AI systems you deploy are harmless and trustworthy? This month, Azeem picks some of his favorite conversations with leading AI safety experts to help you break through the noise.
Today’s pick is Azeem’s 2020 conversation with the pioneering AI scientist Fei-Fei Li, professor of computer science at Stanford University and the founding co-director of Stanford’s Human-Centered AI Institute.
They discuss:
- How Fei-Fei Li’s work on computer vision led to the transformation of AI development.
- Why we should rethink human and machine value systems.
- How the road to artificial general intelligence (AGI) could help us learn more about human cognition.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is on every business leader’s agenda. How do you ensure the AI systems you deploy are harmless and trustworthy? This month, Azeem picks some of his favorite conversations with leading AI safety experts to help you break through the noise.
Today’s pick is Azeem’s 2021 conversation with veteran AI scientist Murray Shanahan, professor of cognitive robotics at Imperial College London and principal scientist at DeepMind.
They discuss:
- Why some aspects of AI progress depend on embodied interaction.
- Understanding from where the major breakthroughs in the field may come.
- Why the salary inflation for commercial AI engineers might hinder research.
Further resources:
- Role Play with Large Language Models (Murray Shanahan et al., 2023)
- Demis Hassabis on DeepMind’s Journey from Games to Fundamental Science (Exponential View, 2019)
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is on every business leader’s agenda. How do you ensure the AI systems you deploy are harmless and trustworthy? This month, Azeem picks some of his favorite conversations with leading AI safety experts to help you break through the noise.
Today’s pick is Azeem’s conversation with Joanna Bryson, a leading expert on the questions of AI governance and the impact of technology on human cooperation.
They discuss:
- The concept of intelligence and AI as a “cognitive prosthetic.”
- The scale of development and the benefits of developing AI.
- The problem of explainability in AI systems.
Further resources:
- A Very Short Primer on AI & IP, including Copyright (Joanna Bryson Blog, 2023)
- Inside the Loop: AI May Launch a Race No-one Can Afford to Lose (Azeem Azhar, 2023)
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is on every business leader’s agenda. How do you ensure the AI systems you deploy are harmless and trustworthy? This month, Azeem picks some of his favorite conversations with leading AI safety experts to help you break through the noise.
Today’s pick is Azeem’s conversation with Meredith Whittaker, president of the Signal Foundation. Meredith is a co-founder and chief advisor of the AI Now Institute, an independent research group looking at the social impact of artificial intelligence.
They discuss:
- How discriminatory culture influences the values embedded in AI.
- Whether ethics officers can actually influence firms and their products.
- Why responsible AI design must include recognition of the shadow workforce helping to create it.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is on every business leader’s agenda. How do you ensure the AI systems you deploy are harmless and trustworthy? This month, Azeem picks some of his favorite conversations with leading AI safety experts to help you break through the noise.
Today’s pick is Azeem’s conversation with Dr. Rumman Chowdhury, a pioneer in the field of applied algorithmic ethics. She runs Parity Consulting, the Parity Responsible Innovation Fund, and she’s a Responsible AI Fellow at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University.
They discuss:
- How you can assess and diagnose bias in unexplainable “black box” algorithms.
- Why responsible AI demands top-down organizational change, implementing new metrics, and systems of redress.
- More details on the emerging field of “Responsible Machine Learning Operations”.
Further resources:
- TIME100AI: Rumman Chowdhury
- Building an AI We Can Trust with Anthropic’s Dario Amodei (Exponential View, 2023)
- “‘I do not think ethical surveillance can exist’: Rumman Chowdhury on accountability in AI” (The Guardian, May 2023)
Never before has it been harder for leaders to make sense of what’s going on in the world. As exponential technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) march on, the ability to make future-proof decisions is all the more important for leaders.
Azeem Azhar’s new TV show and podcast, Exponentially with Azeem Azhar (created in partnership with Bloomberg Originals), goes beyond mainstream conversations about technology to explore new ways of thinking about our collective future.
In eight episodes, released weekly starting September 6, Azeem speaks with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, co-founder and CEO of Anthropic Dario Amodei, and legendary Silicon Valley investor Vinod Khosla, among others.
They discuss questions such as:
- What does it mean to legally own your thoughts, and why may we want that to happen soon?
- Could AI reduce global inequality by boosting productivity in the Global South?
- What assumptions do we need to change about conflict to avoid a second Cold War?
@azeem
@exponentialview
In his brief commentary, Azeem Azhar discusses the increasing complexity and capabilities of large language models (LLMs) and the transformative potential they hold. Just as the Copernican Revolution forced us to reassess our understanding of the universe and led to numerous societal and scientific changes, Azeem proposes that rapid advancements in AI could lead to a similar paradigm shift that challenges established norms and systems.
@azeem
@exponentialview
Further resources:
- Exponential LLMs and the Copernican Moment, Azeem Azhar, 2023
In his brief commentary, Azeem Azhar lays out why the future of the Web is underpinned by AI, and what this means for the traditional business model of the internet. He considers whether there will be a single dominant player, like Google in Web 2.0, or a more fragmented landscape, as in social media?
@azeem
@exponentialview
Further resources:
- AI is the Real Web3, Azeem Azhar, 2023
In his brief commentary, Azeem Azhar shares his outlook on how artificial intelligence could change the labor market, drawing on research published by Goldman Sachs, titled “The Potentially Large Effect of Artificial Intelligence on Economic Growth.” The paper suggests a positive impact on economic growth, alongside a shift to automation that could affect two-thirds of US occupations.
Twitter:
@azeem
@exponentialview
Further resources:
- The Potentially Large Effect of Artificial Intelligence on Economic Growth, Goldman Sachs, March 2023
- After AI, Where Will the Jobs Come From? Azeem Azhar 2023
- The Future of AI in the Workplace: A Survey of American Managers, 2023
Drawing on Carlota Perez’s framework, Azeem Azhar considers whether large language models (LLMs), such as OpenAI’s GPT-4, will drive a paradigm shift across our economies. His discussion touches on LLMs’ wide applications, their reliance on affordable computation and digital data, and their compatibility with existing and potential future digital infrastructures.
Twitter:
@azeem
@exponentialview
Further resources:
- LLMs and Technological Revolutions, Azeem Azhar 2023
- Technological Revolutions and Techno-Economic Paradigms, Carlota Perez, 2010
Artificial intelligence (AI) is dominating the headlines, but it’s not a new topic here on Exponential View. This week and next, Azeem Azhar shares his favorite conversations with AI pioneers. Their work and insights are more relevant than ever.
For Jürgen Schmidhuber, a recognized pioneer in AI, artificial intelligence is much more than another technological revolution. He sees it as the opportunity to transcend humanity and biology. In this conversation, taped in 2019, Jürgen and Azeem Azhar discuss what the next thirty years of AI will look like.
They also discussed:
- The role of Long Short-Term Memory architecture in recent AI breakthroughs.
- Why the next AI wave will see machines actively shaping the data that they perceive.
- The second- and third-order consequences of bringing these more sophisticated artificial neural networks into our world.
Jürgen Schmidhuber
@Azeem
Exponential View
Artificial intelligence (AI) is dominating the headlines, but it’s not a new topic here on Exponential View. Azeem Azhar shares his favorite conversations with AI experts. Their work and insights are more relevant than ever.
Gary Marcus is well known as a deep learning critic. A neuroscientist, founder, and the author of Rebooting AI: Building Artificial Intelligence We Can Trust, Marcus believes that researchers need to move past deep learning in order to make true advances in machine intelligence. In 2019, he joined Azeem Azhar to discuss why, how, and when we can expect progress.
They also discussed:
- What newborn ibexes can teach us about intelligence and learning.
- How deep learning promulgates the gap between big companies and startups.
- What we need for a breakthrough in AI.
Further reading:
How to Build Artificial Intelligence We Can Trust, Gary Marcus, September 6, 2019
Deep Learning: A Critical Appraisal, Gary Marcus, January 2, 2018
@garymarcus
@azeem
Exponential View
Artificial intelligence (AI) is dominating the headlines, but it’s not a new topic here on Exponential View. This week and next, Azeem Azhar shares his favorite conversations with AI pioneers. Their work and insights are more relevant than ever.
Demis Hassabis, CEO and co-founder of DeepMind, dreams of using AI to solve fundamental problems in science. In 2020, he joined Azeem to explore his own journey from world champion gamer to neuroscientist to building AI systems that can train themselves to solve real-world engineering challenges and, eventually, make Nobel-prize winning discoveries.
In 2023, DeepMind’s parent company Alphabet announced consolidation of its biggest research units, DeepMind and Google Brain, into a new division led by Demis.
They also discuss:
- Why games are the perfect training ground for AI algorithms.
- How DeepMind combines the dynamism of a startup with the “blue sky” creativity of a lab.
- Why “deep reinforcement learning” is the basis for artificial intelligence systems.
@demishassabis
@azeem
@exponentialview
Artificial intelligence (AI) is dominating the headlines, but it’s not a new topic here on Exponential View. This week and next, Azeem Azhar shares his favorite conversations with AI pioneers. Their work and insights are more relevant than ever.
OpenAI has stunned the world with the release of its language-generating AI, ChatGPT-4. In 2020, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman joined Azeem Azhar to reflect on the huge attention generated by the precursor to GPT-4 and what that could mean for the future research and development toward the creation of artificial general intelligence (AGI).
They also explored:
- How AGI could be used both to reduce and exacerbate inequality
- How governance models need to change to address the growing power of technology companies
- How Altman’s experience leading YCombinator informed his leadership of OpenAI
Further reading:
- “The messy, secretive reality behind OpenAI’s bid to save the world“ (Wired, 2020)
- “Sam Altman’s Manifest Destiny“ (New Yorker, 2016)
- “Governance in the Age of AI“ (Exponential View Podcast, 2019)
@sama
@azeem
@exponenialview
After producing more than 160 episodes of Exponential View over the last six years, we’re taking a break to reflect on what we’ve learned and how the conversations we’ve hosted with leaders are changing our perspective on the future. While we percolate on the future of our podcast, we have a challenge for you: find all the phenomenal conversations we’ve hosted that you haven’t heard yet –and take alisten. (And please let us know which episodes helped you understand the world and your future!)
This episode is a special introduction to Cold Call, another podcast from Harvard Business Review. Host Brian Kenny explores Shield AI’s work with the U.S. government to develop autonomous combat robots. Harvard Business School professor Mitch Weiss and Brandon Tseng, Shield AI’s CGO and co-founder, join Brian to discuss the challenges start-ups face in working with the public sector, and how investing in new ideas can enable entrepreneurs and governments to join forces to solve big problems.
How do you talk about a product before anything like it exists? How do you guide the engineers building it and the marketing department who has to sell it? As co-creator of the iPod and iPhone, founder of the learning thermostat Nest, and with over 300 patents to his name, Tony Fadell is a serial entrepreneur who now focuses on investing. He tells Azeem Azhar how he uses opinion-based decision-making in his work, and why thinking like a product manager helps drive radical innovation.
Carbon recycling takes our polluting carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide and, with the help of bacteria, turns them into ethanol. This can replace oil as the basis for carbon-based chemicals industries (e.g., fertilizers, plastics, clothing, health and beauty products, etc.), as well as offering sustainable fuel and animal feed. Jennifer Holmgren, CEO of LanzaTech, joins Azeem Azhar to share her vision of the future where greenhouse gases provide a core contribution to our sustainable life.
Quantitative hedge funds, which rely on the work of employed mathematicians to develop complex trading strategies, are nothing new. But what if the mathematical work is outsourced to anyone, via a contest where the best predictions are rewarded with cryptocurrency? Richard Craib, founder of Numerai, explains to Azeem Azhar how his $70 million fund uses collective intelligence to perform well, despite the turmoil in the markets.
Hydrogen has long been hyped as a fuel of the future. It’s abundant and its waste product is water. But it’s only recently that the availability of cheap renewable energy has allowed hydrogen to be produced competitively without the use of fossil fuels. Azeem Azhar speaks with Raffi Garabedian, co-founder and CEO of Electric Hydrogen, to explore the market opportunity and roadmap to wide adoption of “green hydrogen.”
From The Jetsons to Back to the Future, flying cars are a staple of popular science fiction. German start-up Volocopter is working to turn that fiction into reality. Volocopter’s CEO Florian Reuter joins Azeem Azhar to explore how this radical new transport could transform our cities. They also break down the steps required to fulfill his vision of creating a door-to-door taxi service to rival Uber, via autonomous electric helicopters.
Web3’s ability to attach value and incentives to almost every part of human activity has radical implications not only for how businesses engage with their customers, but also for how people can self-organize to drive social change. Web3 investor and analyst Packy McCormick makes the case, in conversation with Azeem Azhar, that an optimistic outlook rooted in market dynamics can enable new sustainable businesses that operate for the public good.
As the gaming industry evolves to meet the challenges and opportunities of Web3, could it drive the mass adoption of crypto? Amy Wu leads investment, M&A, and gaming initiatives at cryptocurrency exchange FTX. She speaks with Azeem Azhar about how she evaluates crypto and Web3 as an investor, how she expects the gaming landscape to change in the next two years, and why the community that comes with NFT ownership is more important to her than potential profit.
What is the metaverse, how will we use it, and why might the financial innovations of Web3 and blockchain technology be crucial to its success? Citi’s Ronit Ghose, one of the world’s foremost analysts of technology’s influence on financial innovation, returns to the podcast to discuss how money will function in the metaverse.
Venture capitalists offer their investors outsized financial returns in exchange for taking on considerable risk. But what if that risk includes backing products where the economics of the end market aren’t clear? Moreover, what if the companies being supported have the non-financial goal of tackling climate change? As more money than ever pours into climate tech, Azeem Azhar speaks with Shayle Kann, a partner at Energy Impact Partners, about the challenges of investing in the net zero economy.
Today’s cancer therapies are difficult, expensive, and slow to create. But the combination of new computing and new biological technologies is leading to a better understanding of the human immune system, with the goal of offering a better class of cancer therapies. Azeem Azhar speaks with Immunai co-founder and chief technology officer Luis Voloch about how AI is unlocking the secrets of the immune system and opening new avenues for novel cancer treatments.
This episode is a special preview of the new podcast, What’s Your Problem? from Pushkin Industries.
What’s Your Problem? explains the problems really smart people are trying to solve right now, from creating a drone delivery service to building a car that can truly drive itself. Jacob Goldstein, former host of Planet Money, talks with entrepreneurs, executives, and engineers about the future they’re trying to build – and the problems they have to solve to get there.
In this preview, Jacob talks with Keenan Wyrobek, who explains the problems he has to solve to expand his drone delivery business from Ghana and Rwanda to the United States.
You can listen to What’s Your Problem? at https://podcasts.pushkin.fm/wypview.
Danish start-up Seaborg Technologies has a blueprint for the future of power that uses a new type of nuclear reactor that is safe, can be manufactured quickly, and deployed on barges to any location worldwide. Seaborg CEO Troels Schönfeldt talks to Azeem Azhar about how the future of power stations could be sailing to your town soon.
We could soon be living more of our lives in immersive virtual worlds, but what will that look like and how will it affect us? New York University professor of philosophy and neural science David Chalmers discusses what the metaverse might offer us, the moral quandaries it could pose, and what our rights there might look like.
As war returns to Europe, General Sir Richard Barrons, former commander of the UK’s Joint Forces Command (whose remit included military intelligence, special forces, and cyber), joins Azeem Azhar to explore how technology is changing warfare and why we must take a more active role in stewarding peace. (This episode was originally broadcast on October 23, 2019.)
Many experts expected Russia’s war with Ukraine to be accompanied by a large-scale cyberattack, but that hasn’t yet materialized. Azeem Azhar speaks to Robert Hannigan, the former head of GCHQ (the UK’s equivalent to America’s NSA), to find out how the conflict is playing out in cyberspace and what might happen next.
Technology is making traditional agriculture more efficient, but farming still has its problems. It takes a huge amount of land and can be energy- and water-intensive. In addition, produce needs to be transported to customers, often over great distances. Daniele Modesto, CEO of ZERO Farms, explains the role building upward will play in the future of farming and why his technology could be used to produce more than just food.
Science is getting better at re-engineering micro-organisms for all kinds of uses, from better medical treatments to more durable materials. But there are still hurdles to overcome, including scaling. Boston-based Ginkgo Bioworks was one of the first billion-dollar companies in the synthetic biology space. The NYSE-listed company uses machine learning and automation to coax biology to work at industrial scale. COO Reshma Shetty talks to Azeem Azhar about the company’s technology, business model, and how big she thinks synthetic biology could become.
Eighty percent of urban trips are less than two miles long. So why do so many of us make them in big, inefficient, and expensive vehicles? Micromobility analyst Horace Dediu joins Azeem Azhar to discuss why many more of us will soon be getting around cities on electric scooters, bikes, and buggies and how that could change our lives for the better.
Seventy-five percent of the total value of US companies that have floated since 1995 has been created by venture-backed firms, including Alphabet, Facebook, and countless others. But how did an obscure investment strategy become the engine of modern innovation and where might it go next? Sebastian Mallaby, author of an excellent new book, The Power Law: Venture Capital and the Making of the New Future, joins Azeem Azhar to discuss the history (and future) of venture capital.
Nutritional science has long been one-size-fits-all. Advice on a healthier diet has long been generic, failing to consider the huge variance of our bodies. ZOE is trying to change that by combining new research on our microbiomes with AI and machine learning. The healthtech startup offers dietary advice tailored to an individual’s microbiome – the unique makeup of microorganisms present in our gut – to change the way we eat for the better.
The workings of the brain have long puzzled scientists and philosophers, but the last twenty years have been a golden age for consciousness research. Neuroscientist Anil Seth explains his theories on consciousness and why unlocking the secrets of our mind will transform medicine, AI, and virtual reality.
Companies of all sizes and sectors have committed to net-zero emissions targets, but getting there is not straightforward. Measuring carbon dioxide output is tricky, carbon markets are fragmented, and the quality of offsets varies hugely. Michelle You, co-founder and CEO of Supercritical, is on a mission to help companies better measure, reduce, and remove carbon emissions – and her first target is the tech sector.
Some people see cryptocurrencies as speculative assets with no real utility at best, a Ponzi scam at worst. For others, they’re the future of money. Do Kwon, founder and CEO of Terraform Labs, the company behind the Terra blockchain, discusses his vision for a decentralized financial ecosystem with Azeem Azhar.
Azeem Azhar sets out his vision for 2022 and shares the trends that he thinks will change our world this year. Some changes are hurtling down the pike, like the growth of Web 3.0 and the metaverse, while others are rumbling along more slowly: the continued dominance of Big Tech and the tireless march of artificial intelligence.
As 2021 draws to a close and Covid cases spike, it’s easy to think not much has changed. But in between pandemic waves, we’ve made major progress in science and technology. And that progress gives us clues about how the future might play out. Azeem Azhar reflects on the tech trends we’ve seen this year and key shifts in industry and society that are changing cities, the labor market, and the superconductor business.
Andreessen Horowitz general partner Andrew Chen and host Azeem Azhar have something in common: they were both tech company insiders and early-stage investors before becoming authors. They explore why they decided to write their books, how writing intersects with their day jobs, and whether they’d do it all again.
Quantum computing won’t be an incremental improvement – it will represent a step-change in the power of the computing technology that underpins our modern economy. Exponentially faster computing won’t just help us solve problems more quickly – it will allow us to get the answers to questions that have been impossible to answer. Chad Rigetti, founder and CEO of Rigetti Computing, speaks to Azeem Azhar about just how revolutionary quantum computing will be.
Nuclear fusion seems to have been “twenty years away” forever, but recent advances could mean fusion is finally on its way to becoming part of our energy mix. Azeem Azhar speaks to Nick Hawker, co-founder and CEO of First Light Fusion, and explores how their “projectile fusion” approach might produce abundant, sustainable energy.
Murray Shanahan, professor of cognitive robotics at Imperial College London and a senior research scientist at DeepMind, joins Azeem Azhar to discuss AI: where developments have exceeded expectations, where they have fallen short, and what the next steps are towards an artificial general intelligence.
Former Greek Finance Minister, economist, and bestselling author Yanis Varoufakis joins Azeem Azhar to discuss his speculative novel Another Now. The book isn’t pure fiction; it’s an optimistic vision of what our society could yet become -- a world where mass organization, technological progress, and an overhaul of companies and markets have made society more equitable.
Investors Nathan Benaich and Ian Hogarth co-author the influential, annual “State of AI” report. They join Azeem Azhar to discuss breakout developments in disparate fields, from defense to medical biology. And they offer their take on the flood of new investments into AI and how we can best keep the technology safe for humanity.
Renewable energy is the future of our power systems, but relying on solar, wind, etc. will require a more reliable and resilient grid. Energy storage will be essential, and Malta Inc.’s molten-salt system is one of the most innovative and promising technologies in the field. CEO Ramya Swaminathan joins Azeem Azhar to discuss why energy storage is so crucial to fighting climate change, how it could affect the economics of energy, and why the electric grid of the future will be more technologically diverse and complex than today’s.
Hopin is one of the fastest-growing startups in history. The virtual events company had six employees in February 2020, at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. A year and a half later, it employs more than eight hundred and is valued at almost $8 billion. Founder and CEO Johnny Boufarhat joins Azeem Azhar to discuss seizing the opportunity the pandemic presented, learning to lead at one of the fastest-growing startups in history, and why he dreams of a future in which a founder’s location is no impediment to success.
Governments and companies have committed to net-zero emissions by 2050, but it’s not clear how they plan to get there – or how much it will cost. Michele Della Vigna, who runs the Carbonomics research program at Goldman Sachs, has dug into the economics behind a transition to net-zero emissions. On the eve of the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26), he and Azeem Azhar discuss how capital markets, new technology, and government coordination could combine to accelerate the transition to a greener economy.
Ford has been making cars for 118 years -- nearly all of them with internal combustion engines. It now faces the biggest challenge in its history. Hau Thai-Tang, Ford’s chief product platform and operations officer, joins Azeem Azhar to discuss electrification, mobility, and the future of one of the titans of the industrial age.
Fighting the climate crisis requires investment, innovation, and on-the-ground know-how. Dawn Lippert works at the intersection of all three. She’s the founder and CEO of Elemental Excelerator, a non-profit incubator that helps climate-focused startups deploy and scale their technologies. She joins Azeem Azhar to discuss how innovative climate tech companies can make it to market, and why workers at Silicon Valley’s biggest companies are flocking to fight climate change.
Google, Facebook, Apple, and Uber are just some of the enormous companies that derive part of their value from network effects: the more users they have, the more value they provide. Serial entrepreneur and early-stage investor James Currier is one of the world’s foremost experts on networks, and on the companies that use them best. He joins Azeem Azhar to discuss how companies with network effects dominate markets, and why their influence will likely continue to grow.
Kim Stanley Robinson, the legendary science-fiction novelist, has a private utopian hope: “to dodge a mass extinction event.” He joins Azeem Azhar to explore his recent novel, The Ministry For the Future, and what it would take for institutions, individuals, and emerging technologies to save millions of lives.
Facebook serves 34 percent of the world’s population and decides who to block and what to censor. How should governments regulate this startling power? Nick Clegg, the UK’s former deputy prime minister and now vice president of Global Affairs and Communications at Facebook, joins Azeem Azhar to explore how governments might reassert control in the exponential age.
Visa processes more than 500 million transactions every day. How is the world’s largest digital payment platform adapting to new technologies and fresh competition? Charlotte Hogg, executive vice president and CEO of its European operations, joins Azeem Azhar to explore the evolving ecosystem of digital payments.
From predictive policing to automated credit scoring, algorithms applied on a massive scale, gone unchecked, represent a serious threat to our society. Dr. Rumman Chowdhury, director of Machine Learning Ethics, Transparency and Accountability at Twitter, joins Azeem Azhar to explore how businesses can practice responsible AI to minimize unintended bias and the risk of harm.
AI hackers are coming, and it’s not just our computer networks at risk – our laws and regulations are also vulnerable. Bruce Schneier, internationally renowned security technologist and fellow at Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society, joins Azeem Azhar to explore how humans have always exploited loopholes in rule-based systems, and how that will change as AIs become more powerful.
Could we have a financial industry without banks or brokers? That’s the vision of decentralized finance – or DeFi – in which financial products are built from tamper-proof digital smart contracts interacting with blockchains. Sergey Nazarov, co-founder of Chainlink, joins Azeem Azhar to explore the promise of this emerging sector to bring greater transparency, control, and yield for both customers and businesses.
AI can offer a new type of competitive advantage, but entrepreneurs need to know what it is and how to unlock it. Ash Fontana, author of The AI First Company and managing director at Zetta Venture Partners – a firm that exclusively invests in early-stage AI startups, joins Azeem Azhar to explore the risks and rewards of applying AI to business problems.
Using forests to offset a company’s carbon emissions has been dismissed as “greenwashing.” But Diego Saez Gil argues that a verifiable and transparent global market in carbon credits is a vital tool to mitigate climate change. In part 2 of their discussion, he joins Azeem Azhar to explore how his company, Pachama, uses technology to connect farmers and ecologists with climate-conscious corporations in an effort to evolve the global carbon marketplace.
How do we build a market for carbon offsets that is both trustworthy and effective? Diego Saez Gil, co-founder and CEO of Pachama, believes he has the answer. In part 1 of the conversation, Diego joins Azeem Azhar to explore how AI, satellites, and LiDAR can be leveraged to verify the conservation efforts of farmers, NGOs, and governments and help lay the foundation for sustainable work against climate change.
Kenneth Cukier, senior editor at the Economist, and Viktor Mayer-Schoenberger, professor of Internet Governance and Regulation at the University of Oxford, argue that because AI systems have no causal model of the world, they lack the human capacity for imagination and decision-making. Azeem Azhar explores their contention that we should not rely on AI to provide solutions to our problems. Rather we should systematically challenge how we frame our problems in order to produce breakthrough insights and innovations — then use AI to help enact those solutions.
In less than a decade France has gone from tech backwater to the startup engine of the EU. It recently celebrated its 12th company to achieve a $1 billion valuation and is well on the way to President Macron’s goal of “25 unicorns by 2025.” Kat Borlongan, director of La French Tech, joins Azeem Azhar to explore how her government taskforce has been working to effectively drive growth in the French startup scene.
Turning a corporate climate pledge into reality is a complex endeavor. Watershed, a software startup co-founded by Christian Anderson, is committed to using data to cut corporate emissions fast. In conversation with Azeem Azhar, Christian shares the challenges of putting this dream into practice.
Livestock is responsible for 15 percent of global greenhouse emissions. Could meat grown in labs offer a sustainable – and palatable – future? Didier Toubia, CEO and co-founder of cultured meat start-up Aleph Farms, joins Azeem Azhar to explore the biotech, ethics, and economics of making beef without cows.
AI is not just code and algorithms. It’s an industry built on a global network of resource extraction, human labor, and data collection. Kate Crawford, senior principal researcher at Microsoft Research and research professor of communication and science and technology studies at USC Annenberg, joins Azeem Azhar to explore the far-reaching impacts of AI and to consider the urgent case for proper governance and regulation of the industry.
IonQ is the first company solely focused on quantum computing to go public, with its quantum computers accessible via the cloud today. The company’s co-founder/chief scientist Chris Monroe and president/CEO Peter Chapman join Azeem Azhar to explore how they turned cutting-edge research into a scalable product. They also discuss the engineering challenges that remain before quantum systems not only surpass the fastest supercomputers, but also become widely available.
Meltem Demirors, Chief Strategy Officer at CoinShares, joins Azeem Azhar to explore the potential and politics of cryptocurrencies: from the ideological origins of Bitcoin to the new wave of decentralized financial products that could disrupt traditional finance.
Atlassian, the enterprise software innovator, is helping to drive disruption across the world of work. Co-founder and co-CEO Scott Farquhar joins Azeem Azhar to explain how, during a global pandemic, they nearly doubled the size of their workforce, why the workplace will never be the same after Covid-19, and what the implications are for companies and employees who increasingly operate remotely, asynchronously, and in flatter hierarchies.
Cade Metz, technology correspondent at The New York Times, joins Azeem Azhar to discuss his new book Genius Makers. In it, he tells the story of the pioneers who brought AI out of academic labs, sparking a Big Tech arms race and transforming our everyday lives.
What are universities for? Are they an elite pipeline for elite jobs, or can they meet the needs of societies transforming amid technological advances? Azeem Azhar explores the role of higher education in research, innovation, and progress with Geraint Rees, Dean of Faculty of Life Sciences at University College London and a leader of their AI strategy.
Chris Urmson, co-founder and CEO of the self-driving technology startup Aurora, joins Azeem Azhar to explore the state-of-play of self-driving technology, the criticisms the tech must address, and the huge challenges to be overcome before we trust a computer to drive our kids to school.
Social networks polarize communities and spread misinformation. Professor Sinan Aral, director of MIT’s Initiative on the Digital Economy and author of The Hype Machine, joins Azeem Azhar to explore what makes these networks so powerful and how we can engineer our way to a healthier online ecosystem.
Could deep tech bring about an age of abundance? Matt Ocko, co-founder and managing partner of Data Collective Venture Capital, joins Azeem Azhar to explore the art of investing in startups that aim to transform entire industries with radically cheaper, cleaner products.
From an insurance giant to an incubator of cutting-edge tech companies, Ping An’s evolution is impressive and unique. Chief Innovation Officer Jonathan Larsen joins Azeem Azhar to explore how the China-based holding conglomerate has managed such agility at immense scale.
“Quantum computing is to conventional computing what a warp drive is to a bicycle,” says Jeremy O’Brien, CEO of PsiQuantum. He joins Azeem Azhar to explore the exponential advantage quantum computing will bring to problems across science and industry, and how he’s using photonics to build the first productive quantum computer.
Regina Dugan, CEO of new biomedical non-profit Wellcome Leap and former director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in the U.S., joins Azeem Azhar to explore how she approaches delivering breakthrough technologies and why she has now set her sights on global health.
Cory Doctorow, award-winning author, technologist, and founder joins Azeem Azhar to explore the power of big tech monopolies and how a future wave of antitrust lawsuits could unleash innovation across the sector.
Azeem Azhar reflects on how Covid-19 has affected technology and our lives in 2020 and why the effects of the pandemic will be felt for many years to come.
Cory Doctorow, award winning author, technologist, and founder, joins Azeem Azhar to explore how we can harness massive collective action and exponential technologies to mitigate climate change.
Leila Rastegar Zegna, general partner and co-founder of Kindred Capital, joins Azeem Azhar to explore a new model for venture capital, where startup founders become partners in the fund. This new approach aims to align incentives for entrepreneurs and investors, in order to build a healthier innovation community.
Jesper Brodin, CEO of Ingka Group, joins Azeem Azhar to explore IKEA’s goal to be a net reducer of carbon emissions by 2030 – while still growing its business.
Kai-Fu Lee, AI pioneer and investor, joins Azeem Azhar to explore the evolution of China’s vibrant tech sector, the rise of consumer-facing robots, the consequences for labor, and the future of educational technologies.
Zymergen CEO Joshua Hoffman joins Azeem Azhar to explore how cutting-edge bioengineering, robotics, and machine learning are helping create a new generation of high-performance, environmentally sustainable materials for the 21st Century.
Investor Chamath Palihapitiya joins Azeem Azhar to explore the dysfunctional relationship between capital and companies, why he loves a SPAC (special purpose acquisition company), and why he’s championing a new wave of climate change innovators. Note: Portions of the conversation that had been removed in an earlier version of this episode have been reinstated for greater clarity.
“The time for vertical farming is here,” says Mike Zelkind, co-founder and CEO of 80 Acres Farms. He joins Azeem Azhar to explore what’s broken in the food supply chain, and how a new breed of high-tech, indoor farms could deliver better, tastier food using a fraction of the resources.
Yale professor Nicholas Christakis argues that we can expect this current phase of the Covid-19 pandemic to end in 2022. In conversation with Azeem Azhar, Christakis explains why we need to brace for what comes next.
Ownership of personal data is a form of power – and that power is concentrating in the hands of governments and big tech. Should we be worried? Dr. Carissa Véliz, from the Institute for Ethics in AI at the University of Oxford, joins Azeem Azhar to discuss her new book “Privacy is Power.”
Facebook’s Chief Technology Officer Mike Schroepfer joins Azeem Azhar to explore how they built the infrastructure powering the social network, why AI and virtual reality are the core of its future, and how the company approaches content moderation.
DeepMind’s co-founder and CEO, Demis Hassabis, joins Azeem Azhar to explore his company's progression from gaming to accelerating scientific discovery.
Audrey Tang, Taiwan’s first digital minister, joins Azeem Azhar to discuss how the Taiwanese Government is using the Internet as a space for civic participation, dialogue, and consensus building.
OpenAI stunned the world with the release of the world’s most impressive language-generating AI. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman joins Azeem Azhar to reflect on the huge attention generated by GPT-3 and what it heralds for the future research and development toward the creation of a true artificial general intelligence (AGI).
As we wrap up the season and head off to a short summer break, Azeem Azhar reflects on what he learned from his conversations with technology and business leaders on the podcast -- and how those insights may help us understand where the world is headed.
A thriving global economy depends on more than just free markets. Harvard Business School professor Rebecca Henderson offers a fresh vision of purpose-driven capitalism, where companies can make good profits by doing the right thing.
Drug discovery, novel materials, and genetic engineering are some of the topics under the microscope in Azeem Azhar’s discussion with Andreessen Horowitz general partner Vijay Pande. They explore the extraordinary possibilities that are opening up at the intersection of biology, engineering, and innovation.
Starting a company with a stranger is not the traditional path for many entrepreneurs, but this is one of the basic principles of Entrepreneur First (EF), the world’s leading talent investor. Matt Clifford, EF’s CEO and co-founder, joins Azeem Azhar to explain why he invests in founders before they have a business idea and other novel approaches to venture capital and innovation.
As the Covid-19 pandemic forces companies to rethink their workflows and structures, Azeem Azhar speaks with Daniel Hulme, CEO of Satalia, whose company runs as a decentralized swarm. There are no managers, no strict job roles, and no vacation limits. Yet, the company delivers artificial intelligence solutions to its customers. How does it work?
Companies increasingly use digital systems to hire, fire, and monitor their employees. But who is keeping employers in check? Former union leader and AI ethics expert, Dr. Christina Colclough joins Azeem Azhar to discuss how to empower employees in the digitally-enabled workplace.
How do we build better cities after the coronavirus crisis? The World Bank’s Sameh Wahba joins Azeem Azhar to discuss how the World Bank partners with technologists to help cities on the frontline of the pandemic, and how the dynamism of urban density can be harnessed to build the livable and inclusive cities of the future. Note: We updated one sentence in this interview for clarity.
After ImageNet transformed AI vision, superstar Stanford computer science professor Fei-Fei Li has turned her attention to advancing healthcare. She joins Azeem Azhar to discuss her new approach to AI development, which incorporates interdisciplinary collaboration and focuses on ethical, real-world impact.
Nasdaq has evolved from being the world’s first digital marketplace to a global technology company. CEO Adena Friedman joins Azeem Azhar to discuss how their digital operation has become the model for markets around the world, the surprising importance of regulation as a driver of innovation, and how Nasdaq prepared to keep functioning during the pandemic lockdown.
The Fung Group coordinates some of the world’s largest and most complex supply chains. Pamela Mar, EVP for Knowledge and Applications at Fung, joins Azeem Azhar to explore how developing digital connectivity can help to counteract the devastating repercussions of the coronavirus pandemic.
For the first time in history, there are more people on the planet over 65 years old, than under five. How do we adapt to this demographic transformation? Camilla Cavendish, award-winning journalist and former Director of Public Policy for UK Prime Minister David Cameron, joins Azeem Azhar to explore the immense cost and new potential of this brave old world.
Harvard geneticist David Sinclair joins Azeem Azhar to discuss his pioneering research into the pathways and processes responsible for aging, and the new treatments that could keep us younger for longer.
President Kersti Kaljulaid joins Azeem Azhar to explore how legal and technological innovations have helped Estonia create the most advanced e-government in the world, and how this digital republic is navigating the Covid-19 pandemic.
Ramez Naam, clean energy investor and technologist, joins Azeem Azhar to discuss the economic and industrial forces that are accelerating us towards a zero-carbon future, as well as the major challenges that remain.
Alphabet Inc.’s X (formerly Google X) creates the most daring innovations to tackle the world’s biggest problems. CEO Astro Teller joins Azeem Azhar to explain how he creates a culture of radical creativity and nurtures the audacity to fail.
Softbank Vision Fund Senior Managing Partner, Deep Nishar joins Azeem Azhar to discuss how the confluence of AI, genomics, and automation are opening up new possibilities in biotech and materials science.
The COVID-19 pandemic will cause an economic crisis never seen before, says equity analyst Pierre Ferragu. He joins Azeem Azhar to discuss how this crisis will affect the technology industry, in particular, in the short and long term.
Muneeb Ali, co-founder and CEO of Blockstack, a decentralized computing network, joins Azeem Azhar to discuss rebuilding the internet to give control back to users.
Hilary Cottam, social entrepreneur and author of the acclaimed book, “Radical Help,” joins Azeem Azhar to discuss the future of welfare in the exponential age.
Physicist and author, Cesar Hidalgo joins Azeem Azhar to discuss how understanding knowledge leads to insights on everything from the economic value of megacities to how to moralize machines.
Airtable founder Howie Liu and Azeem Azhar discuss what it means to create a new $100 billion market category.
Geopolitical expert Ian Bremmer joins Azeem Azhar to discuss how the forces of technology are shaping and threatening global stability.
Renowned crisis manager, lawyer, author, and television producer, Judy Smith, the inspiration for the TV show “Scandal,” joins Azeem Azhar to discuss what tech businesses need to know to stay on top of their reputation in an era of instantaneous news and activist employees.
Microsoft’s president, Brad Smith, joins Azeem Azhar to discuss how regulation can advance the technology industry and innovation.
We've already been living with artificial decision-making machines for hundreds of years -- we call them corporations and states. That’s the argument David Runciman makes in conversation with Azeem Azhar in this week’s episode. Runciman is professor of politics at Cambridge University and host of the “Talking Politics” podcast. He and Azeem discuss what this reframing of artificial intelligence can teach us about navigating the hurdles it presents.
Reshma Sohoni, co-founder and managing partner Seedcamp (a seed-stage fund focusing on Europe), joins Azeem Azhar to discuss what it takes to build a thriving startup ecosystem outside Silicon Valley, and how some of Europe’s most successful startups were created.
One of the leading pioneers in the field of nanotechnology, physicist Sonia Contera joins Azeem Azhar to discuss how advances in biology, computing, and physics are bringing about another tech revolution that will change our lives.
Nicole Eagan, CEO of Darktrace, one of the world’s leading cybersecurity firms, joins Azeem Azhar to discuss how artificial intelligence is opening a new battlefield for hackers, governments, and private companies alike.
Vaclav Smil, preeminent expert on energy history and development, joins Azeem Azhar to discuss what is required for our fossil fuel-dependent civilization to transition to a sustainable energy system.
Meredith Whittaker, co-director of the AI Now Institute and one of the organizers of the Google Walkout in 2018, joins Azeem Azhar to discuss how discrimination and bias are influencing the development of artificial intelligence, and how tech workers are working to change their industry for the better.
The reinvention of craftsmanship started in Silicon Valley, and it’s spreading and reshaping the rules of work. This is the thesis of Laetitia Vitaud’s latest book, “Du labeur à l’ouvrage (From Labor to Work)," which explores how technology is unbundling the Fordist compact between corporation and worker and forcing a new employment paradigm for the digital age.
Azeem Azhar and Binyamin Appelbaum discuss how a group of free-market economists managed to reshape our modern world. They promised growth and broad prosperity, but instead left us with fractured societies and weakened democracies.
Appelbaum is the author of the new book, "The Economists’ Hour," a deep dive into the history of ideas that formed capitalism, as we know it.
Gary Marcus has a reputation for being a contrarian in the AI community. Over the past several years, Marcus, a neuroscientist, entrepreneur, and the author of “Rebooting AI: Building Artificial Intelligence We Can Trust,” has been a vocal critic of deep learning as the best way forward for AI. Marcus joins Azeem Azhar to discuss the alternatives for building better machine intelligence.
Peace is fragile, especially when anyone can use open source technology to build a weapon to inflict harm, online and offline. General Sir Richard Barrons, former Commander of the UK’s Joint Forces Command, makes the case to Azeem Azhar that, as the definition of warfare is changing, we all need to take a more active role in stewarding peace.
Economist Carlota Perez joins Azeem Azhar to discuss the life cycle of technology revolutions and how they ultimately change every aspect of society. Perez is optimistic about the future -- she explains how we can harness technology to foster green growth and global development.
Andrew Ng, former leader of Google’s and Baidu’s AI divisions, joins Azeem Azhar to discuss how businesses should approach AI adoption, and how machine intelligence will change industries and our work.
Tony Blair, former Prime Minister of the UK, joins Azeem Azhar in conversation about how the technology industry and policy makers can work together to amplify their potential to serve the public good. Regulating big tech, as Blair explains, is only a small part of the solution in a necessary effort to transform our society and economy for the exponential age.
A sneak peak of the new season of Azeem Azhar’s Exponential View podcast. This is the show that bridges the gap between two cultures: technology & science on the one hand, and business & society on the other. Azeem’s conversations help you better understand how the tech revolution is changing our world. Season launch: Wednesday, October 2, 2019.
Investors Carina Namih and Gigi Levy-Weiss come together with LabGenius founder James Field and science writer Oliver Morton to explore the opportunity of engineering biology to solve some of the world’s greatest challenges.
Leading AI researchers De Kai and Joanna Bryson join Azeem Azhar to discuss the state of governance and accountability in the age of AI.
Daniel Schreiber, Lemonade’s CEO and cofounder, joins Azeem to discuss how the company is using artificial intelligence to disrupt a legacy industry by realigning incentives with the values that customers care about.
Stuart Russell, coauthor of the standard text on AI, “Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach,” joins Azeem Azhar to discuss the progress of AI research and implementation and how to ensure the outcomes are beneficial.
“All digital infrastructure is used to shape human behavior in the direction that will be successful in the marketplace,” says Shoshana Zuboff, whose latest book, "The Age of Surveillance Capitalism," is a primer for understanding how technology companies are shaping our economy and society.
Jürgen Schmidhuber is a recognized pioneer in the field of deep neural networks. His techniques form the basis of the modern AI systems used by billions of people daily on services like Google, Facebook, and the Apple iPhone. Jürgen joins Azeem to discuss the next thirty years of artificial intelligence.
W. Brian Arthur, one of the founders of the discipline of complexity economics, explores the impact artificial intelligence and automation will have on the economy.
Citigroup leading analyst Ronit Ghose, Lemonade Insurance founder and CEO Daniel Schreiber, and OakNorth Bank founder and CEO Rishi Khosla discuss the new possibilities that AI offers the finance industry. Those who manage to use this emerging technology to reduce friction for customers will win.
Accenture’s Chief Technology and Innovation Officer, Paul Daugherty, discusses how to successfully integrate AI in your business: Do not think of it as bolt-on tech, but rather, as an opportunity to reimagine everything you do.
“We’re not even close to developing fully driverless cars,” urges Duke University professor Missy Cummings, a former fighter pilot and the director of the Humans and Autonomy Lab at Duke. She explores where automation currently is and paints a picture of the future with humans as integral parts of autonomous systems.
Theoretical physicist and founder of Genomic Prediction, Michigan State University senior vice president Stephen Hsu discusses the extraordinary developments in predictive genomics and digs into the ethical minefield that lies ahead: is the door now open to designer babies?
Eric Topol, the foremost expert in artificial intelligence in medicine, explores how the technology promises to revolutionize healthcare, making life better for both doctors and patients.
World-renowned economist Mariana Mazzucato discusses the role of the state as a value creator and how we can apply mission-oriented models of innovation to solve today’s burning challenges.
AI researcher and entrepreneur Trent McConaghy discusses how blockchain will unlock the value of data by bridging the gap between the AI haves and have-nots and, in turn, helping to create the data economy.
University of Bath professor Joanna Bryson, a leading AI researcher, discusses the opportunities and consequences of developing human-like computational intelligence.
Investor Cathie Wood, one of Bloomberg’s 50 people who defined global business in 2018, discusses the five innovation platforms shaping our future and strategies for investing in them.
Parag Khanna, a leading international relations expert, recently published the new book "The Future Is Asian: Commerce, Conflict and Culture in the 21st Century." He talks about the law of technology diffusion, breaks common myths about Asia's development, and questions whether the future belongs to cities or nation-states.
Elif Shafak, an award-winning British-Turkish author and human rights activist, discusses the polarization of culture springing out of the foundations of the open internet, and the ways to tackle the pervasive issues in today's digital technology sphere.
Marietje Schaake, a Dutch politician and member of the European Parliament (MEP) from the Netherlands, talks to Azeem Azhar about the governance of cyberspace, the responsibility of technology companies, and the new era of geopolitical competition in cyberspace.
Emil Eifrem is the CEO and cofounder of Neo4j, the graph database platform powering some of the largest companies today. He is the creator of the property graph model, and he coined the term "graph database" to describe the technology that would change how we understand big data.
Jack Clark, the policy director at OpenAI, discusses the state of artificial intelligence development, the geopolitics of technology, and the implications of automation on society.
Gina Neff, a senior research fellow and associate professor at the University of Oxford, explores technology development from a sociological perspective, as well as the implications of self-tracking and the quantified self for the individual and society.
Michael Liebreich, a leading global expert on clean energy and transportation, discusses the significance of the U.S. National Climate Assessment and IPCC's report, the importance of staying below two degrees, and the role of exponential technologies in transitioning to renewables.
Casper Klynge, the world's first tech ambassador, with a global mandate and staff in Copenhagen, Silicon Valley, and Beijing, assesses the current alignment between some of the largest technology companies and nation-states and discusses the role of technology in fostering democracy and innovation.
Kate Raworth, senior visiting research associate at Oxford University’s Environmental Change Institute, discusses the Doughnut economics framework as the essence of rethinking economics for a world inhabited by 10 billion people and hit by climate change and social justice struggles. Kate sets a vision for an equitable and sustainable future.
Anousheh Ansari, the world's first female private space explorer and the first Iranian astronaut in space, discusses the ways space development could help us tackle climate change and pollution and achieve sustainable crypto mining. She shares about her journey to become a space explorer, her time on the International Space Station, and her role as the CEO of XPrize.
Lisa Witter, an award-winning executive, a serial entrepreneur, and the cofounder and executive chairman of Apolitical, discusses reviving trust in government, the road map for building the public service workforce of the future, and the role of agile in governance.
Matthew Taylor, the chief executive of the Royal Society of Arts, a UK organization committed to finding practical solutions to societal problems, discusses the well-being economy, the meaning of good work in an age of automation, and the state of democracy.
Andrew Yang, an entrepreneur and author who is standing for president in the 2020 U.S. election, discusses the core ideas behind his platform, why they are necessary, and how to get there.
Reid Hoffman dives deep into Silicon Valley's attitudes toward government, the role of the state in innovation, and maintaining techno-optimism.
Entrepreneur and investor Elad Gil talks about Silicon Valley, scaling companies from 10 to 10,000 employees, the state of blockchain, and how blockchain and artificial intelligence will overlap.
Azeem Azhar and Dr. Mariarosaria Taddeo, deputy director of the Digital Ethics Lab at the Oxford Internet Institute, unpack the state of cybersecurity and warfare, the complex symbiosis between governments and criminal actors, and the ways digital technologies are changing cyber warfare.
Azeem Azhar speaks with venture capitalist Bill Janeway about the three-player game between the mission-driven state, financial speculators, and markets in the innovation economy. Are we stuck on the dark side of this configuration? How do we move forward?
Kai-Fu Lee, a VC investor, technology executive, and one of the most prominent figures in the Chinese internet sector and AI, discusses the Chinese government's techno-utilitarian approach to technology, the ambition of China's technology founders, and the future of job automation.
Azeem Azhar's Exponential View podcast is back, exploring the intersection of political economy and exponential technologies.
We’ve experienced a manifestation of new behaviors, driven by the underlying shifts around the democratic process: the transition from broadcast media to niche media moderated by dominant social media platforms.
Have these behaviors hacked our democracy? For better or for worse? Azeem discusses these questions with Carole Cadwalladr, Luciano Floridi, Hari Kunzru, Tom Loosemore.
Dr. Danny Lange, VP of AI and machine learning at Unity, discusses the role of machine learning technologies in revolutionizing the ways games are developed and monetized. Dr. Lange talks about the significance of the undergoing paradigm shift in computing, the OODA loop in machine learning, and what happens to software engineers when their trade becomes obsolete.
Author Philip Auerswald talks about “code” in a broader meaning of the word — it is the “how” of human productivity, the manner in which we create, refine, and implement the infrastructure that forms a human society. The advancements of code, from the Neolithic era to the modern times, have driven identity and work reinvention.
Scott Santens, a writer and an advocate for universal basic income, talks about why he believes “citizen's salary” is a necessary measure for our societies to deal with tech unemployment by providing an independent income floor.
Marko Ahtisaari, the CEO and cofounder of The Sync Project, presents ideas and projects born out of the vision that in the near future people will use non-drug modalities to heal, enhance well-being, and assist in therapy. He guides us through the recent experiment Unwind.ai, which uses your heart rate to select the tracks that will bring you peace of mind.
Columbia University professor Jeffrey Sachs, one of the world’s foremost thinkers on economic development, talks about how technology has improved the lives of countless humans. He explores how automated systems will increasingly replace both routine and high-skill jobs.
Computer scientist Kate Devlin discusses robot intimacy and a new age of sex, relationships, and social life.
Hebrew University of Jerusalem professor Yuval Harari and Azeem Azhar cover the compelling insights in his new book, "Homo Deus."
Philosopher and investor Dr. Shamil Chandaria investigates how we might live much longer lives and asks how we can make those lives more meaningful.
A wide-ranging conversation on technology with Jason Pontin, editor-in-chief of MIT Technology Review. He touches on gene editing, Moore's Law, artificial intelligence, Facebook and fake news, and what ties all these disparate strands together.
Ryan Avent, economics columnist at The Economist, and Azeem Azhar explore issues around digital technologies and how they will continue to exponentially change the relationship between capital and labor.