AI-Curious with Jeff Wilser

Sherlock Bioscience is developing medical diagnostic tests that are dramatically faster, cheaper, and easier to distribute than traditional models. The impact? This could make health care more inclusive, slow the spread of STDs, and help us avoid future pandemics. Dr. Dechairo and I start with the current problems of traditional diagnostic tests, then get into how AI could help and how that could impact the globe. There is a LOT of silly stuff in the world of AI… this is not that. Hope you enjoy the conversation.

No tech is just about the tech. True adoption — or lack thereof — is often about issues of culture, which is why I’m thrilled to speak to today’s guest: Adam Bai, who’s an anthropologist as well as the Chief Strategy Officer of Glimpse, a company that leverages AI for market research solutions. Adam’s team has done extensive research on both AI adoption — and how this intersects with a company’s culture, teamwork, people, etc. — and AI bias and equity. He’s helped diagnose the problem and has some ideas on the solution. At heart, this discussion gets at the growing gap between AI promises and AI reality, as it helps explain why some organizations are struggling to adopt AI, and others are thriving. Fun conversation! Thanks again to Adam and Glimpse. Glimpse: https://www.glimpseahead.ai/ Adam Bai: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-bai-68131799/ Jeff Wilser on Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/jeffwilser

How will AI impact education? One university isn't passively waiting to see how the dust settles, but is instead aggressively incorporating AI into its curriculum. That would be American University's Kogod School of Business, which has moved at warp-speed to modify its curriculum in 20 classes to incorporate AI this Fall. I'm delighted to be joined by the two key players in this initiative: Kogod School of Business' Dean David Marchick, and Professor Angela Virtu, who is spearheading the AI training of faculty and the AI-ification of the curriculum. We get into the many, many facets and complexities of AI and education... How is the faculty reacting? What does an "AI curriculum" look like, exactly? What about the obvious question of cheating? We cover a ton of ground and I had a blast -- hope you enjoy the conversation. Link to The Wall Street Journal story that covers Kogod's AI adventure: https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/generative-ai-mba-business-school-13199631

Boston Dynamics just unveiled their new robot, "Atlas." The AI space was floored. Some were excited, some startled, some terrified, all fascinated. Whether we like it or not, thanks to the rapid acceleration of AI, robots -- specifically humanoid robots -- are closer than we think. Robots are now less science fiction and more a short-to-medium-term likelihood. So where are we now with robots? Where are we headed? What will Robot Land look like in, say, 10 years? Joining the pod to discuss all things robots is Kordel France, Founder and Lead Engineer of Theta, an AI and robots company with a novel focus on the olfactory sense--smell. Their theory is that smell can have surprising use cases in AI right now, and in the future it could be the key to unlocking more robust, more natural Artificial General Intelligence. Fun convo - enjoy! Theta https://thetadx.ai/ Link to Boston Dynamics' Unveiling of Atlas: Or as The Verge calls it, "Boston Dynamics’ new Atlas robot is a swiveling, shape-shifting nightmare" https://www.theverge.com/2024/4/17/24133145/boston-dynamics-resurrects-atlas-humanoid-robot-electric-new

We've all heard "AI will transform the world!!!" But how are AI experts *actually* using AI now, today, for reals, in their day-to-day lives? I've collected some wisdom and insights from prior guests of AI-Curious to give what is -- hopefully -- some super useful and concrete suggestions on how to incorporate AI into your own workflow. From ChatGPT as "debate partner" to brainstorm to massively underpaid research assistant, here are how people are using AI today.

Dmitry Shaprio has been in the space for decades; he was a product lead at Google and the CTO of MySpace. Now he's the CEO of MindStudio, a company that helps companies create custom apps to integrate AI. And a LOT of companies are using MindStudio. 34,000 apps have now been created using MindStudio, and this ranges from large corporations to solo-entrepenuaers to government agencies. The apps are used for sales, HR, marketing, operations -- everything. Dmitry, essentially, is helping companies go from AI Hype to AI Substance. We get into the nitty gritty of why these Apps matter, how they're used, and how businesses can (actually) integrate AI into their operations. Fun episode! MindStudio.ai: https://youai.ai

At a recent hackathon, Ian Laffey was part of a team that designed, created, 3D-printed, and assembled a drone in 24 hours... and for under $500. The drone's breakthrough: It doesn't need a signal for GPS, which means that it can be deployed off the grid, and can't be "jammed" in a war zone...like Ukraine. Laffey's drone is now a sensation in the world of defense-tech. Laffey is now the CTO of Theseus, and he joins the pod to discuss how his team pulled this off, why the drone is such a breakthrough, how AI played a crucial role -- we get into the nuts and bolts, not just platitudes -- and then Laffey shares, on a day-to-day basis, what it's really like to be a 24-year-old AI engineer working in San Francisco, the world's nexus for AI innovation. Fun convo! Ian Laffey on Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/ilaffey2 Theseus: https://theseus.so Article from AviationWeek on the drone Laffey helped create: https://aviationweek.com/aerospace/emerging-technologies/how-trio-engineers-developed-gps-denied-drone-under-500

There are many AI doomsdayers. Kevin Surace is not one of them. Kevin has been in a pioneer in the AI space since the 1990s, went he helped develop the tech that would directly influence Siri and Alexa. He has since been named by CNBC as one of the "Innovators of the Decade" and is now a regular keynote speaker. We have a *wide-ranging* conversation on how AI will shape the future, covering everything from robots to flying cars to job losses to whether AIs can become sentient. A really fun conversation. You can find Kevin at: https://kevinsurace.com and https://twitter.com/kevinsurace?lang=en

If you need to get a puppy, what's the best way to go about it? Harnessing AI, of course. I recently decided to get a puppy. I didn't know what to get or how to do it. (I've never owned a dog.) So I made liberal use of ChatGPT in research, analysis, and execution, and then turned to AI for help with puppy training. I doubt you're in the market for a new puppy, but I think this is a useful extended metaphor of how AI -- and specifically ChatGPT -- can help in a very concrete, real-world analysis situation. (This episode is sponsored by my new puppy.)

AI might change the world. But it can it help change you? You could argue that AI coaching, fundamentally, might be the most important impact of the entire tech. In today’s world, professional career coaching is generally only available for the privileged. What if it was available for all? But what are the risks and concerns? Joining us to break this down is Dr. Friederike Redlbacher, Managing Director of Symbolon AG. She’s working with the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence and developed the world’s first AI-based coaching tool in 2023, which is largely art-based. In this episode, Dr. Redlbacher and I cover the pros, cons, upsides, risks, and exciting potential of injecting AI into the coaching landscape. Link to Symbolon self-coaching: https://www.dfki.de/symbolon-coaching/?language=en To claim one of the 5 free codes offered by Dr. Redlbacher, email me at jeff@jeffwilser.com with the subject line “AI coaching - code.”

If AI gets super intelligent and super powerful, will it be benevolent? Or will it want to crush us like ants? Perhaps they’ll be benevolent. Maybe they’ll be “aligned” with our interests. But if not? What should we do? How can we prepare for this nightmarish scenario? Trent McConaghy has a plan. McConaghy has been working in AI for decades, both as an entrepreneur and as a researcher, and he’s widely respected in the field. And he recently gave a speech to the “existential-risk” (x-risk) group at NASA about how, to prepare humanity for this all-powerful AI…We need to become more than humans. Specifically, we need to embrace the idea of Brain-Computer Interface, or BCI. BCI, says McConaghy, can even help unshackle us from the constraints of being a flesh-and-blood human. In a literal mind-meld with computers, we could be 1,000 times smarter and live longer. This sounds like deep sci-fi, but McConaghy lucidly breaks down the vision in a way that’s step by step, easy to understand, and almost feels…plausible? Whether you agree with the theory or not, McConaghy’s thoughts are FASCINATING and he makes for a wildly engaging conversation about the future of AI. I’m confident that anyone even remotely interested in AI — or sci-fi — will find his thought experiments intriguing. Among many other sweeping and futuristic topics, we cover: Why economic incentives make AGI (or “ASI,” for Artificial Super Intelligence) is perhaps more likely than we think (13:50); Why we might soon be like an anthill compared to god-like entities of Artificial Smart Intelligence (23:00); whether these all-powerful ASIs will protect human rights (26:00); why we need a “more competitive substrate” that helps us be more than human and hyper-boost our intelligence (29:00); how creating powerful Brain-Computer-Interfaces is more grounded and less sci-fi-ish than you might think (35:00); how we will some day —maybe soon — be able to just think of videos and use telepathy to send to friends (45:00); why the human “bio-stack” won’t be enough and we’ll need a synthetic solution (53:00); the dangers of “bike shedding” the risks of ASI (59:30); how BCI could plausibly go mainstream (61:30); why when we’re 94 years old we might switch from our “bio-stack brain” and migrate to our “silicon-stack” side (65:00). So join us on a futuristic and fascinating journey…. McConaghy’s presentation to the existential-risk group at NASA: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tLK1sBCMNuJTNX8Pi99iDmLzFiIsUOk5/view McConaghy’s Medium article that breaks down the BCI theory: https://medium.com/@trentmc0/bci-acc-a-path-to-balance-ai-superintelligence-80bb6f32e39c McConaghy on Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/trentmc0 Ocean Protocol, the blockchain-powered AI ecosystem that McConaghy founded: https://oceanprotocol.com My article about AI and blockchain where I first interviewed McConaghy, and he shares a part of this theory (which got me fascinated in the first place): https://www.coindesk.com/consensus-magazine/2023/09/21/is-crypto-ai-really-a-match-made-in-heaven/ And finally Jeff Wilser (me) on Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/jeffwilser

The cover of this week’s TIME Magazine has a bold headline: “The First AI War.” The subtitle: “Palantir and other tech giants are building the future of battle in Ukraine.” The writer of this cover story is Vera Bergengruen, a senior correspondent at TIME. And Vera joins us today at AI-Curious. We cover: How Ukraine is using AI and what it’s accomplishing (3:00); how they’ve created a “war lab” that's a testing ground for new innovations (12:00); privacy and ethical concerns (23:00); repercussions for the future of war (37:00); and some behind-the-scenes from her reporting (40:30). Important topic. And Vera's the perfect guest to discuss it. I thoroughly enjoyed the conversation. Vera’s cover story in TIME Magazine, “The First AI War”: https://time.com/6691662/ai-ukraine-war-palantir/ Vera’s author page: https://time.com/author/vera-bergengruen/ Vera Bergengruen on Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/VeraMBergen?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor Jeff Wilser on Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/jeffwilser

Confession: I don't really care about cars. But I *love* the idea of self-driving cars. So what's the status of this idea? There's now a fleet of self-driving cars in San Francisco. How good are they? How safe? What are the limitations? And what are the technical challenges that still need to be overcome, and how does AI fit into all of this? To unpack all of this, I'm joined by Noah Gedrimas, the Vice President of Strategy at GPR, a company at the forefront of the self-driving care movement. GPR is building tools that allow for precise "localization" -- letting the car know exactly where it is on the road, a crucial piece of the self-driving puzzle. Super fun convo! After this talk I'm even more excited about this industry's future. GPR https://gpr.com Noah Gedrimas https://www.linkedin.com/in/noah-gedrimas-14307960/

Eric Siegel is a longtime expert on machine learning, and is the author of the new book "The AI Playbook: Mastering the Rare Art of Machine Learning Deployment." Eric has been a professor at Columbia University, a longtime machine learning consultant, and he's the founder of the long-running "Machine Learning Week" conference series. Eric's take? AI is over-hyped, but machine learning still has much to offer a business...if you know how to deploy it. So in this pod, we go t through his step-by-step playbook of how to deploy machine learning, and how that's different from more squishy AI hype. The book has been getting some buzz in the space. Scott Galloway gave it a glowing blurb, calling it a "robust primer on machine learning,” and a “must-read for anyone in the information economy.” Fun convo! The AI Playbook: Mastering the Rare Art of Machine Learning Deployment https://www.amazon.com/dp/0262048906/

Can AI make you rich? Or, more to the point, can AI make investment banks, hedge funds, and financial services companies even richer? Not so fast... Vasagi Kothandapani is an expert in helping financial services companies train, develop, and integrate AI. She's the Senior Vice President of AI Training at RWS, a tech-enabled content and language organization. And she stops by the pod to help separate the hype from the reality of AI in fintech... what are the exciting use cases, and what are the sober realities that need to be overcome? You can think of this as essentially a "case study" for the challenges that all businesses face when trying to incorporate AI. Sounds easy but the details get tricky in a blink. So even if you're not in finance, anyone who does any kind of work can relate to much of these larger themes and tradeoffs. AI at RWS: https://www.rws.com/artificial-intelligence/

As our quick appetizer, a quick dispatch from the Sundance Film Festival, where AI was seemingly *everywhere*. For our entrée, we speak with Hilke Schellmann, author of the new book "The Algorithm: How AI Decides Who Gets Hired, Monitored, Promoted, and Fired and Why We Need to Fight Back Now." If you have a job, or will some day get a job, or know someone with a job, this is a topic relevant to you. Link to The Algorithm: https://www.amazon.com/Algorithm-Decides-Hired-Monitored-Promoted/dp/0306827344/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= Hilke on Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/HilkeSchellmann Jeff Wilser on Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/jeffwilser AI-Curious on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBcJvABeveqArmWvvmfPfTg

What are the most important stories in AI right now? Today we chat with Sharon Goldman, Senior Writer at Venture Beat, who covers all things artificial intelligence. Sharon and I get into: Why the race for training data is so crucial in the future development of AI (2:30); why so much hinges on The New York Times vs. Open AI (12:40); the looming wars between Open AI and Anthropic and XAI and others (31:00); the potential coolness (and terror) of AI hardware (35:00); and much much more. Sharon Goldman on Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/sharongoldman Sharon Goldman’s author page at Venture Beat: https://venturebeat.com/author/sharongoldman/ Inc Magazine’s “4 Ways to Get AI Savvy in 2024,” featuring….the podcast AI-Curious! https://www.inc.com/amanda-pressner-kreuser/4-ways-to-get-ai-savvy-in-2024.html Jeff Wilser on Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/jeffwilser

We all know AI has tons of potential, but how do you *actually* use ChatGPT in your daily life? Sam Stevens is the cofounder of Catalist AI, an AI-powered project management assistant. She’s also the writer of the “Prompt and Circumstance” newsletter, where she shares hyper-pragmatic tips and tricks for how to get the most out of ChatGPT and other AI tools. So in this episode, we go deeeeeep into the practical, concrete, actual ways that you can use ChatGPT in your day-to-day life. This is useful for beginners and pro-users alike, as Sam drops a ton of helpful strategies. We cover: Using ChatGPT as a thought partner (3:40); ChatGPT for personal project managet and schedule optimization (4:50); the benefits of giving AI super-specific context (15:50); how and why to use AI to help analyze content (23:30); using AI to step up your LinkedIn game (28:30); how to use ChatGPT as a thought partner and for “rubber ducking” (30:00); favorite prompt engineering strategies and tips and tricks (32:40); Sam reveals her global system prompts (35:30); the goal of her new start-up Catalist AI (38:30) and much more. To get on the waitlist for Catalist AI: www.catalistai.com Prompt & Circumstance newsletter: https://promptandcircumstance.beehiiv.com The "too online" AI/web3 newsletter that Sam also writes: BoysClubWorld https://boysclub.vip/brandnew/ Sam Stevens on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samanthastevens01/ Sam Stevens on Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/SamJStevens Jeff Wilser on Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/jeffwilser AI-Curious on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBcJvABeveqArmWvvmfPfTg

As deep fakes get easier and the truth gets murkier, how will AI impact the 2024 election? We’re joined by election expert David Becker, the founder and Executive Director of the non-partisan and non-profit Center for Election Innovation & Research. David is also the co-author of “The Big Truth: Upholding Democracy in the Age of The Big Lie.’” David breaks down the many aspects of AI and the 2024 election, including: The current state of play of election integrity and why they’re more secure than you might think (5:15); what most concerns him about how AI-enabled mischief could muck things up (14:30); how deep fakes could cause problems (21:00); why disinformation could be a problem *post* election (36:45); why in 2024 the LEFT might be the victim of a disinformation campaign and wrongly think that the election was “stolen” (39:30); and finally what we can do to protect and inoculate ourselves against AI-fueled misinformation (45:00). David Becker on Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/beckerdavidj The Center for Election Innovation and Research https://electioninnovation.org Election Official Legal Defense Network: https://eoldn.org David’s book, “The Big Truth”: https://thebigtruthbook.com Jeff Wilser on Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/jeffwilser AI-Curious on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBcJvABeveqArmWvvmfPfTg

Where is AI headed next year? I curated some of my favorite AI predictions -- and give a few of my own -- from some of the year-end AI roundups and prediction articles. We cover deep fakes, further AI integration into business, the 2024 election, AI going mobile, and much more. AI prediction articles referenced in the pod: The Economist: https://www.economist.com/the-world-ahead/2023/11/13/generative-ai-will-go-mainstream-in-2024 PWC: https://www.pwc.com/us/en/tech-effect/ai-analytics/ai-predictions.html Axios https://www.axios.com/2023/12/27/ai-predictions-tech-trends-2024-openai-chatgpt Yahoo Finance https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2024-predictions-how-ai-will-impact-everything-in-healthcare-162535006.html Jeff Wilser on Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/jeffwilser