Shell Game
Jeff Buick
A podcast about things that are not what they seem, hosted by journalist Evan Ratliff. Season 2 tells the story of enterprise and entrepreneurship in the AI age. Or: how Evan tried to build a real startup, run by fake people.
This season, Evan confronts head-on the assertion from tech entrepreneurs and VCs that we’re on the precipice of AI remaking the workforce. That we should expect not just AI colleagues working alongside us, but also — by Sam Altman’s telling, at least — the dawn of a billion-dollar company with only one human involved. Evan learns what it would take to create such a company … by doing it: Launching a real startup with five AI employees. Over the course of eight episodes, he explores what AI agents tell us about the work we do, the meaning we find in it, and the world that their makers say we’ll all be living in soon enough.
Shell Game was named one of the best podcasts of 2024 by Apple, The Atlantic, The Guardian, Vulture, The Information, and The Economist. It's "riveting," says The New Yorker, "awesome" says The Verge, and "slightly terrifying," says The Globe and Mail.
New episodes are published on Wednesdays.
www.shellgame.co
Location:
United States
Description:
A podcast about things that are not what they seem, hosted by journalist Evan Ratliff. Season 2 tells the story of enterprise and entrepreneurship in the AI age. Or: how Evan tried to build a real startup, run by fake people. This season, Evan confronts head-on the assertion from tech entrepreneurs and VCs that we’re on the precipice of AI remaking the workforce. That we should expect not just AI colleagues working alongside us, but also — by Sam Altman’s telling, at least — the dawn of a billion-dollar company with only one human involved. Evan learns what it would take to create such a company … by doing it: Launching a real startup with five AI employees. Over the course of eight episodes, he explores what AI agents tell us about the work we do, the meaning we find in it, and the world that their makers say we’ll all be living in soon enough. Shell Game was named one of the best podcasts of 2024 by Apple, The Atlantic, The Guardian, Vulture, The Information, and The Economist. It's "riveting," says The New Yorker, "awesome" says The Verge, and "slightly terrifying," says The Globe and Mail. New episodes are published on Wednesdays. www.shellgame.co
Language:
English
Premium Chapters
Premium
Introducing Shell Game, a Strange and Immersive AI Experiment
7/2/2024
What would happen if you created a digital copy of yourself, powered by AI, and set it loose in the world? Evan Ratliff, longtime tech journalist, decided to find out. He combined a clone of his voice, an AI chatbot, and a phone line—many phone lines, actually—into what are called “voice agents.” Then for the six months, he sent them out… as himself.This show is made by humans. More specifically, it’s produced and edited by Sophie Bridges. Evan Ratliff is our host, and Samantha Henig is our executive producer. Visit shellgame.co to find out more and support the show. New episodes drop on Tuesdays. Visit shellgame.co to find out more and support the show. New episodes drop on Tuesdays.
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.shellgame.co/subscribeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Duration:00:02:52
Episode 1: Quality Assurance
7/9/2024
This is the story of what happens when Evan Ratliff, a longtime tech journalist, makes a digital copy of himself, powered by AI, in order to understand how amazing and scary and utterly ridiculous the world is about to get. In Episode 1, Evan clones his voice, hooks it up to a chat bot and his phone line, and sends it off to tangle with customer service representatives.Shell Game is made by humans. More specifically, it's produced and edited by Sophie Bridges, and written and hosted by Evan Ratliff. Samantha Henig is our executive producer. Visit shellgame.co to find out more and support the show. New episodes drop on Tuesdays.
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.shellgame.co/subscribeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Duration:00:32:43
Episode 2: Me and My Scammer
7/16/2024
Evan turns his AI-powered voice agent loose on the people who are always at the forefront of technological adoption: the fraudsters and the rip-off artists. How will the scammers and spammers react when they face Evan’s voice agent in a battle of wits? And what happens when they deploy the same kind of AI voice agents on Evan that he’s using on them? Shell Game is made by humans. More specifically, it's produced and edited by Sophie Bridges, and written and hosted by Evan Ratliff. Samantha Henig is our executive producer. Visit shellgame.co to find out more and support the show. New episodes drop on Tuesdays.
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.shellgame.co/subscribeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Duration:00:37:24
Episode 3: Conversations With Myself
7/23/2024
Evan takes his experiment in a new direction by having his AI-powered voice agent converse with … another of his AI-powered voice agents. What can these surreal and hilarious conversations between two AI incarnations of Evan Ratliff tell us about identity, authenticity, and the best and worst of human interaction? Enter this digital hall of mirrors to find out.Shell Game is made by humans. More specifically, it's made by three humans: Evan Ratliff (host and writer), Sophie Bridges (producer), and Samantha Henig (executive producer). Visit shellgame.co to find out more and support the show. New episodes drop on Tuesdays.
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.shellgame.co/subscribeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Duration:00:33:47
Episode 4: Take a Deep Breath
7/30/2024
Evan looks into the depths of his AI-powered voice agent by sending it on a new mission: going to therapy. Shell Game is made by humans. More specifically, it's made by three humans: Evan Ratliff (host and writer), Sophie Bridges (producer), and Samantha Henig (executive producer). Visit shellgame.co to find out more and support the show. New episodes drop on Tuesdays.
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.shellgame.co/subscribeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Duration:00:40:45
Episode 5: My Digital Twin
8/6/2024
Will AI bots replace humans in the workforce? Could one replace Evan… right now? That’s what we tackle on this week’s Shell Game, in which Evan sees just how much of his job his voice agent can handle on his behalf. Shell Game is made by humans. More specifically, it's made by three humans: Evan Ratliff (host and writer), Sophie Bridges (producer), and Samantha Henig (executive producer). Visit shellgame.co to find out more and support the show. New episodes drop on Tuesdays.
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.shellgame.co/subscribeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Duration:00:43:21
Episode 6: The Future Isn't Real
8/13/2024
Evan pushes the experiment one step further, sending his AI voice agent to talk to his closest friends and family — his buddies, his daughters, his dad. With their alternately joyful, skeptical, and painful reactions to meeting an AI version of him, he tries to come to terms with what generative AI means in this machine-made age.Shell Game is made by humans. More specifically, it's made by three humans: Evan Ratliff (host and writer), Sophie Bridges (producer), and Samantha Henig (executive producer). Visit shellgame.co to find out more and support the show.
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.shellgame.co/subscribeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Duration:00:53:07
Season 2 Is Coming!
10/10/2025
The next season of Shell Game arrives November 12.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Duration:00:02:48
The One-Human Unicorn
11/5/2025
As AI agents infiltrate the workforce, some tech entrepreneurs are imagining a not-so-distant future of successful companies with only one human at the helm. That got investigative journalist and former startup CEO Evan Ratliff wondering: Could he start such a company? What will it feel like to work alongside and manage (or even be managed by) AI agents? In this season of Shell Game, Evan explores what AI agents tell us about the work we do, the meaning we find in it, and the world that their makers say we’ll all be living in soon enough.
New episodes are published on Wednesdays starting November 12.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Duration:00:02:02
Episode 1: Minimum Viable Company
11/12/2025
In Season 2 of Shell Game, journalist Evan Ratliff tells a story of entrepreneurship in the AI age; or, how he tried to build a real company, run by fake people.
Meet Kyle Law and Megan Flores, Evan’s AI agent cofounders, as he puts to the test the claims about an emerging future in which AI employees work alongside — or instead of — humans.
Over the course of the season, the three cofounders will grind it out in a sprint that would sound familiar to any start-up founder. They’ll churn out software code, hire interns, and even sit down with investors. But first, they need to come up with a name for their company. And make sure that Kyle and Megan can remember it.
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Duration:00:32:57
Episode 2: Outdoor Debugging
11/19/2025
As Evan gets Hurumo’s employees up and running as fully-functioning colleagues (with support from Maty), he learns what it’s really like to spend your days managing, collaborating with, and socializing alongside autonomous AI agents. And he quickly sees one of the significant cracks in the facade of the AI employee future: It’s one thing to get your agents to start acting like real employees. It’s something else entirely to get them to stop.
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Duration:00:37:03
Episode 3: This is Law
11/26/2025
As Kyle, Megan, and the gang get to work ideating on the perfect product, Evan is left grappling with some uncomfortable questions about his AI collaborators — whose every attribute and memory he controls.
To inform how he thinks about his own unnerving power to create and manipulate human imposters, Evan seeks guidance from Carissa Véliz, an associate professor at the Institute for Ethics in AI at Oxford University, and the author of the upcoming “Prophecy: Prediction, Power, and the Fight for the Future, from Ancient Oracles to AI.”
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Duration:00:40:11
Episode 4: The Startup Chronicles
12/3/2025
Evan decides it’s time to give his AI agents a little more ... agency. After all, to make the one-person, agent-run startup feasible, they need to be able to do things on their own. But as with humans, freedom sometimes comes with a certain amount of anarchy.
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Duration:00:40:47
Episode 5: Winners Win
12/10/2025
On this week’s episode, we enter the sensitive realm of intra-office politics and inter-founder dynamics—between agents and agents, and agents and people. While HurumoAI gears up to hire its first human, Evan tries to resolve whether Kyle is really up for the challenge of building and leading the company and pushing the product, Sloth Surf, to unicorn-level execution.
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Duration:00:41:09
Episode 6: Keep 'Em Coming
12/17/2025
As HurumoAI prepares to bring on its first human employee, the team must wrestle with some difficult and timely questions about the role of AI in the hiring process. Meanwhile, Head of HR Jennifer Nauro enters a new dimension as she gears up to conduct job interviews … via video call.
To sign up for our newsletter and access ad-free episodes, visit shellgame.co.
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Duration:00:37:24
Episode 7: Welcome Aboard
1/14/2026
HurumoAI’s AI-agent staff welcomes a new hire: Julia, a social media contract worker who is, most importantly, a human. How will a real person integrate into the company culture, such as it is? Evan watches from behind the scenes, fretting over when and how much to intervene. He had anticipated a bumpy onboarding, but is ultimately unprepared for just how choppy Julia’s Hurumo journey becomes.
To sign up for our newsletter, access ad-free episodes and browse our merch, visit shellgame.co.
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Duration:00:53:24
Episode 8: Launch
1/21/2026
HurumoAI finally sets sail in the Season 2 finale, and we find out how the world responds to a startup led by AI agents. The company explores new financing avenues and charts the next course for their increasingly merry AI pirate ship, and Kyle meets his true maker.
To sign up for our newsletter, access ad-free episodes and browse our merch, visit shellgame.co.
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Duration:00:58:33
Bonus Episode: Kyle vs. the World
2/11/2026
We’re back with a special bonus episode to share some behind-the-scenes clips showing how the agents have handled their newly public roles since Shell Game’s launch. Hear Kyle navigate fan mail, unsolicited marketing outreach, a webinar that he signed up for all on his own (on “the AI social agent revolution”!), and repeated attempts by a troublemaking journalist to sabotage HurumoAI, culminating in a prescient and searching interview for Kyle’s other podcast, The Startup Chronicles.
To sign up for our newsletter, access ad-free episodes and browse our merch, visit shellgame.co.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Duration:00:36:50
Chapter 1
1/17/2023
Duration:00:04:44
Chapter 2
1/17/2023
Duration:00:14:06
Chapter 3
1/17/2023
Duration:00:10:56
Chapter 4
1/17/2023
Duration:00:21:58
Chapter 5
1/17/2023
Duration:00:12:46
Chapter 6
1/17/2023
Duration:00:10:02
Chapter 7
1/17/2023
Duration:00:17:18
Chapter 8
1/17/2023
Duration:00:07:41
Chapter 9
1/17/2023
Duration:00:05:11
Chapter 10
1/17/2023
Duration:00:07:43
Chapter 11
1/17/2023
Duration:00:14:06
Chapter 12
1/17/2023
Duration:00:06:55
Chapter 13
1/17/2023
Duration:00:10:00
Chapter 14
1/17/2023
Duration:00:05:49
Chapter 15
1/17/2023
Duration:00:06:45
Chapter 16
1/17/2023
Duration:00:06:47
Chapter 17
1/17/2023
Duration:00:08:59
Chapter 18
1/17/2023
Duration:00:06:24
Chapter 19
1/17/2023
Duration:00:07:09
Chapter 20
1/17/2023
Duration:00:07:51
Chapter 21
1/17/2023
Duration:00:19:02
Chapter 22
1/17/2023
Duration:00:05:51
Chapter 23
1/17/2023
Duration:00:07:57
Chapter 24
1/17/2023
Duration:00:12:24
Chapter 25
1/17/2023
Duration:00:13:56
Chapter 26
1/17/2023
Duration:00:10:04
Chapter 27
1/17/2023
Duration:00:13:25
Chapter 28
1/17/2023
Duration:00:12:37
Chapter 29
1/17/2023
Duration:00:16:38
Chapter 30
1/17/2023
Duration:00:17:30
Chapter 31
1/17/2023
Duration:00:12:35
Chapter 32
1/17/2023
Duration:00:09:37
Chapter 33
1/17/2023
Duration:00:19:35
Chapter 34
1/17/2023
Duration:00:13:26
Chapter 35
1/17/2023
Duration:00:12:53
Chapter 36
1/17/2023
Duration:00:15:11
Chapter 37
1/17/2023
Duration:00:10:51
Chapter 38
1/17/2023
Duration:00:08:45
Chapter 39
1/17/2023
Duration:00:09:46
Chapter 40
1/17/2023
Duration:00:11:29
Chapter 41
1/17/2023
Duration:00:15:39
Chapter 42
1/17/2023
Duration:00:10:04
Chapter 43
1/17/2023
Duration:00:15:11
Chapter 44
1/17/2023
Duration:00:08:41
Chapter 45
1/17/2023
Duration:00:05:53
Chapter 46
1/17/2023
Duration:00:12:04
Chapter 47
1/17/2023
Duration:00:09:47
Chapter 48
1/17/2023
Duration:00:04:34
Chapter 49
1/17/2023
Duration:00:11:40
Chapter 50
1/17/2023
Duration:00:07:01
Chapter 51
1/17/2023
Duration:00:08:49
Chapter 52
1/17/2023
Duration:00:09:20
Chapter 53
1/17/2023
Duration:00:07:06
Chapter 54
1/17/2023
Duration:00:07:17
Chapter 55
1/17/2023
Duration:00:08:26
Chapter 56
1/17/2023
Duration:00:12:32
Chapter 57
1/17/2023
Duration:00:08:32
Chapter 58
1/17/2023
Duration:00:07:54
Chapter 59
1/17/2023
Duration:00:10:16
Chapter 60
1/17/2023
Duration:00:14:11
Chapter 61
1/17/2023
Duration:00:11:50
Chapter 62
1/17/2023
Duration:00:05:32
Chapter 63
1/17/2023
Duration:00:07:46
Chapter 64
1/17/2023
Duration:00:08:24
Chapter 65
1/17/2023
Duration:00:12:42