Cost of Intelligence and Cognitive Colonialism

Welcome to BIG IDEAS by NEW ECONOMIES — a show where we learn how the most iconic founders have turned crucible moments into global companies. Throughout these episodes, we also discover the trends our guests are most excited about, and the types of businesses those trends could go on to create.

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In this week’s episode, we are joined by Emad Mostaque – the founder of Stability AI, the company behind Stable Diffusion, and now the architect of an even more ambitious project: Intelligent Internet.

In just a few short years, Emad has gone from running hedge funds to helping ignite the generative AI boom, with hundreds of millions of downloads and billions of images created from models his team helped bring into the world. Now he’s thinking far beyond viral products: sovereign AI for governments, open healthcare models that can outperform doctors on benchmarks and run on a laptop, and agentic systems that could sit beside every citizen, not just inside Big Tech’s closed platforms.

In this episode, we explore:

* The next 1,000 days of AI — Emad explains why we’re approaching a tipping point where agentic systems begin replacing large parts of the cognitive workforce.

* The collapse in the cost of intelligence — how AI is rapidly becoming as cheap and abundant as electricity, and what that means for economies, companies, and individuals.

* Cognitive colonialism — why Emad believes the biggest risk isn’t just superintelligence, but a world where a handful of corporations control the AI layer closest to our children.

* A universal basic AI — his argument that UBI alone won’t be enough; society will also need open, sovereign AI systems that work for people, not platforms.

* What careers look like by 2028 — from disappearing graduate jobs to one-person unicorns, we break down what’s coming for work, education, and opportunity.

Plus much more, so grab a notebook and enjoy the episode!

Also available on Apple Podcasts // Spotify

Episode Chapters

(0:00) Intro

(3:00) Stability AI

(8:25) Intelligent Internet

(15:45) Who Should Own AI Models?

(18:10) What Do AI Models Get Wrong?

(23:15) Which Human Roles Will Disappear Next?

(25:28) Who Wins The AI Race?

(31:50) Buddies: The AI World Leaders

(35:10) What Is Coming Next?

(39:33) Emad’s Typical Day

(42:43) Trends: Robotics & Self Driving Cars

(46:45) AI’s Biggest Challenges

Thanks for listening and see you in the next episode 👋