Greg Beato on superagency, AI, and the cognitive industrial revolution

In an age of increasingly ubiquitous AI, how do we maintain control of our lives and successfully plot our own destinies? In this episode, Reid is in the hotseat alongside writer Greg Beato, discussing this and more in the context of their new book, Superagency. Greg is a seasoned journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Times, Wired, The Washington Post, Reason, Spin, and Slate, to name a few. He and Reid delve into what could possibly go right with our AI future; the cognitive industrial revolution; and the difference between AI Doomers, Gloomers, Zoomers, and Bloomers. Plus, Reid’s AI avatar makes a cameo to join for a few rounds of the game “Overrated/Underrated.” 

For more info on the podcast and transcripts of all the episodes, visit https://www.possible.fm/podcast/ 

For more on Superagency, check out superagency.ai. 

Topics:

2:04 - Overrated/Underrated Round I

5:02 - Why Reid chose Greg as his co-author

6:01 - Why Greg wanted to write this book

8:19 - Why Reid chose this book topic at this particular time

11:21 - How the rise of AI is similar to the rise of social media

16:36 - Agency, superagency, and AI

19:59 - Overrated/Underrated Round II

23:28 - Defining AI Doomers, Gloomers, Zoomers, and Bloomers

28:46 - How AI amplifies agency

32:16 - How ChatGPT shifted people’s relationship with AI

37:21 - Choosing AI vs. AI being baked into technologies 

39:28 - Speed and scale in the current AI moment

44:37 - How innovation and safety can coexist

48:49 - Rapid-fire Questions

Possible is an award-winning podcast that sketches out the brightest version of the future—and what it will take to get there. Most of all, it asks: what if, in the future, everything breaks humanity's way? Tune in for grounded and speculative takes on how technology—and, in particular, AI—is inspiring change and transforming the future. Hosted by Reid Hoffman and Aria Finger, each episode features an interview with an ambitious builder or deep thinker on a topic, from art to geopolitics and from healthcare to education. These conversations also showcase another kind of guest: AI. Whether it's Inflection’s Pi, OpenAI’s ChatGPT or other AI tools, each episode will use AI to enhance and advance our discussion about what humanity could possibly get right if we leverage technology—and our collective effort—effectively.