AI & I

An interview with best-selling sci-fi novelist Robin SloanOne of my favorite fiction writers, New York Times best-selling author Robin Sloan, just wrote the first novel I’ve seen that’s inspired by LLMs.The book is called Moonbound, and Robin originally wanted to write it with language models. He tried doing this in 2016 with a rudimentary model he built himself, and more recently with commercially available LLMs. Both times Robin found himself unsatisfied with the creative output generated by the models. AI couldn’t quite generate the fiction he was looking for—the kind that pushes the boundaries of literature.He did, however, find himself fascinated by the inner workings of LLMsRobin was particularly interested in how LLMs map language into math—the notion that each letter is represented by a unique series of numbers, allowing the model to understand human language in a computational way. He thinks LLMs are language personified, given its first heady dose of autonomy. Robin’s body of work reflects his deep understanding of technology, language, and storytelling. He’s the author of the novels Mr. Penumbra’s 24-hour Bookstore and Sourdough, and has also written for publications like the New York Times, the Atlantic, and MIT Technology Review. Before going full-time on fiction writing, he worked at Twitter and in traditional media institutions. In Moonbound, Robin puts LLMs into perspective as part of a broader human story. I sat down with Robin to unpack his fascination with LLMs, their nearly sentient nature, and what they reveal about language and our own selves. It was a wide-ranging discussion about technology, philosophy, ethics, and biology—and I came away more excited than ever about the possibilities that the future holds.This is a must-watch for science-fiction enthusiasts, and anyone interested in the deep philosophical questions raised by LLMs and the way they function. If you found this episode interesting, please like, subscribe, comment, and share! Want even more?Sign up for Every to unlock our ultimate guide to prompting ChatGPT. It’s usually only for paying subscribers, but you can get it here for free.To hear more from Dan Shipper:Subscribe to Every: https://every.to/subscribe Follow him on X: https://twitter.com/danshipper Links to resources mentioned in the episode:Robin Sloan: https://www.robinsloan.com/ Robin’s books: Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore, Sourdough, MoonboundDan’s first interview with Robin four years ago: https://every.to/superorganizers/tasting-notes-with-robin-sloan-25629085 Anthropic AI’s paper about how concepts are represented inside LLMs: https://www.anthropic.com/news/mapping-mind-language-model Dan’s interview with Notion engineer Linus Lee: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeKEXnNP2yA Big Biology, the podcast that Robin enjoys listening to: https://www.bigbiology.org/ 

In this episode, bestselling author Steven Berlin Johnson, known for his influential works on innovation, dives into his role as editorial director for NotebookLM, Google Labs' research assistant. He discusses the amazing capabilities of NotebookLM, demonstrating how it can synthesize 200,000 words of NASA transcripts into clear narratives. Steven explores historical connections to the Apollo 1 fire while unpacking the tool's ability to recognize patterns in research. He emphasizes the exciting potential of AI in creative workflows, making it a must-listen for enthusiasts of technology and storytelling.

Learn how the smartest people in the world are using AI to think, create, and relate. Each week I interview founders, filmmakers, writers, investors, and others about how they use AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Midjourney in their work and in their lives. We screen-share through their historical chats and then experiment with AI live on the show. Join us to discover how AI is changing how we think about our world—and ourselves. For more essays, interviews, and experiments at the forefront of AI: https://every.to/chain-of-thought?sort=newest. 

New York Times journalist Kevin Roose has 18 new friends—none of whom are human. Kevin formed a collection of “friends”—AI personas with distinct personalities and backstories—using apps like Kindroid and Nomi. Among these were fitness guru Jared, San Francisco-based therapist Peter, and pragmatic trial lawyer Anna. He talked to them every day for a month, sharing personal stories, seeking advice, and even asking for “fit” checks. And this wasn’t Kevin’s first unusual interaction with AI characters. A year ago, he was the infamous target of Bing’s chatbot Sydney’s romantic overtures.I don’t think anyone has studied AI companionship as deeply as Kevin, and in this episode, I sat down with him to learn more about his experience.Kevin is a tech columnist at the New York Times and cohost of the Hard Fork podcast. He’s also the author of three books, most recently Futureproof: 9 Rules for Humans in the Age of Automation, which is about how humans can be happy in a world designed for machines. During our conversation, we also talk about how Kevin is using AI in his work and life every day.This is a must-watch for anyone curious about how AI is changing the way we form relationships.If you found this episode interesting, please like, subscribe, comment, and share! Want even more?Sign up for Every to unlock our ultimate guide to prompting ChatGPT. It’s usually only for paying subscribers, but you can get it here for free.To hear more from Dan Shipper:Subscribe to Every: https://every.to/subscribe Follow him on X: https://twitter.com/danshipper Links to resources mentioned in the episode:Kevin Roose: @kevinrooseHardfork, the podcast that Kevin cohosts: https://www.nytimes.com/column/hard-fork Kevin’s latest book about being human in a world designed for machines: https://www.kevinroose.com/futureproof Kevin’s piece in the New York Times about his experience making AI friends: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/09/technology/meet-my-ai-friends.html?unlocked_article_code=1.qk0.9dZN.6XiiP3RjRZxv&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&sgrp=c-cb Two of the apps that Kevin used to create AI companions: https://landing.kindroid.ai/; https://nomi.ai/ Dan’s piece that explains why AI writing will feel real through psychologist D.W. Winnicott’s theory: https://every.to/chain-of-thought/will-you-read-writing-from-an-ai   Every’s piece that explores AI companion app Replika: https://every.to/cybernaut/artificial-intimacy 

Nick Dobos, maker of the #1 programming GPT, on prompt-gramming with AIYou can go from having an idea to deploying a live website in minutes.All you have to do is prompt Grimoire, the number-one custom GPT for programming, with an image or even a single word about your idea. As you watch the LLM process your request, Grimoire works with a web host on the backend, and just minutes later, your website will be live on the internet.Grimoire, which has facilitated over 1 million chats, can help you with a lot more than just making websites: It includes a comprehensive guide to learning how to code, from basic concepts to advanced instruction, and serves as a tool for programmers to resolve their questions in real time.The creator of Grimoire is Nick Dobos, who was an iOS developer at Twitter until Musk bought the company and laid off a majority of its staff. With plenty of free time suddenly on his hands, Nick started experimenting with ChatGPT, and ended up building Grimoire. He’s since emerged as one of the foremost experts in the world on building successful custom GPTs and coding with ChatGPT. I think Grimoire is a platform to examine the possibilities that “prompt-gramming”—an emerging way of coding by prompting AI—can enable. I sat down with Nick to explore what this means about the future of programming, the best way to use the coding assistant, and the role AI plays in his life beyond coding. As we talk, Nick uses Grimoire to build a website about coffee and generate a QR code from its URL live on the show.This is a must-watch for coders, creative people, and anyone curious about how AI is changing the way we interact with computers.If you found this episode interesting, please like, subscribe, comment, and share! Want even more?Sign up for Every to unlock our ultimate guide to prompting ChatGPT. It’s usually only for paying subscribers, but you can get it here for free.To hear more from Dan Shipper:Subscribe to Every: https://every.to/subscribe Follow him on X: https://twitter.com/danshipper Links to resources mentioned in the episode:Nick Dobos: @NickADobosGrimoire: https://chat.openai.com/g/g-n7Rs0IK86-grimoire Nick’s website for his experiments with AI: https://mindgoblinstudios.com/ AI-first code editor Cursor: https://cursor.sh/ Open Interpreter: https://www.openinterpreter.com/ Lisa Feldman Barrett’s book: How Emotions Are MadeDemo Hume, the empathetic AI voice: https://demo.hume.ai/ 

The future of AI technology isn’t just faster or more powerful—it’s empathetic. My guest for this episode, Alan Cowen, is leading the charge with the first-ever emotionally intelligent AI.Alan is the co-founder and CEO of Hume, an AI research laboratory developing models trained to identify and measure expressions of emotion from voice inflections and facial expressions. The best part? Once it understands these emotions, the AI is designed to interact with users in a way that optimizes for human well-being and leaves them with a positive emotional experience.  Previously, Alan—who has a Ph.D. in computational psychology—helped set up Google’s research into affective computing, a field focused on developing technologies that can understand and respond to human emotions. He operates at the intersection of AI and psychology, and I sat down with him to understand the inner workings of Hume’s models. Alan walks me through the shortcomings of traditional theories of emotional science and breaks down how Hume is addressing these challenges. While talking about the potential applications of the models, we also discuss the tricky ethical concerns that come with creating an AI that can interpret human emotions.This is a must-watch for anyone interested in the science of emotion and the future of human-AI interactions.If you found this episode interesting, please like, subscribe, comment, and share! Want even more?Sign up for Every to unlock our ultimate guide to prompting ChatGPT. It’s usually only for paying subscribers, but you can get it here for free.To hear more from Dan Shipper:Subscribe to Every: https://every.to/subscribe Follow him on X: https://twitter.com/danshipper Links to resources mentioned in the episode:Alan Cowen: @AlanCowenHume: @hume_AI; hume.aiIf you want to demo Hume: demo.hume.aiThe nonprofit associated with Hume: Hume InitiativeLisa Feldman Barrett’s book: How Emotions Are MadeThe serial based on Paul Ekman’s theory of emotion: Lie to Me

Learn how to use philosophy to run your business more effectivelyReid Hoffman thinks a masters in philosophy will help you run your business better than an MBA.Reid is the cofounder of LinkedIn, a partner at venture capital firm Greylock Partners, the host of the Masters of Scale podcast, and a prolific author. But before he did any of these things, Reid studied philosophy—and by helping him understand how to think, it made him a better entrepreneur. A good student of philosophy rigorously engages with questions about truth, human nature, and the meaning of life, and, over time, learns how to think clearly about the big picture. This is a powerful tool for founders faced with existential questions about their product, consumers, and competitors, and enables them to respond with well-reasoned answers and enviable clarity of thought.This show is usually about the actionable ways in which people have incorporated ChatGPT into their lives, but in this episode, I sat down with Reid to tackle a deeper question: How is AI changing what it means to be human? How might it change the way we see ourselves and the world around us?This episode is a must-watch for anyone curious about some of the bigger questions prompted by the rapid development of AI.Thanks again to our sponsor CommandBar, the first AI user assistance platform, for helping make this video possible. ⁠https://www.commandbar.com/copilot/⁠If you found this episode interesting, please like, subscribe, comment, and share! Want even more?Sign up for Every to unlock our ultimate guide to prompting ChatGPT. It’s usually only for paying subscribers, but you can get it here for free.To hear more from Dan Shipper:Subscribe to Every: https://every.to/subscribe Follow him on X: https://twitter.com/danshipper Links to resources mentioned in the episode:Reid Hoffman: @reidhoffmanThe podcast Reid hosts: Masters of ScaleReid’s book: ImpromptuThe book Reid recommends if you want to be more philosophically inclined: Gödel, Escher, BachReid’s article in the Atlantic: "Technology Makes Us More Human"The book about why psychology literature is wrong: The WEIRDest People in the World by Joseph HenrichThe book about how culture is driving human evolution: The Secrets of Our Success by Joseph Henrich

Seth-Stephens Davidowitz wrote a book in 30 days—and he did it with ChatGPT.Seth is a data scientist, economist, and author who challenged himself to write a book—Who Makes the NBA?—in less than 1 month after realizing how fast he could work by using ChatGPT plugin Advanced Data Analysis. But along the way he discovered something else: Writing with AI wasn’t just faster, it was also way more fun. Seth outsourced the boring parts of data analysis—like cleaning data, merging files, and looking up code snippets—to AI. This left him to focus on what he loves: thinking up questions to ask the dataset.In a world where AI can answer any question humans know the answer to, asking the right questions is becoming increasingly important—a skill Seth isn’t just really good at, but also finds joy in. In this episode, Seth walks me through how he used AI to analyze data and write a book in 30 days. We get into:- How to create and edit complex charts with AI in seconds- Using ChatGPT to brainstorm creative ideas - How AI is redefining who can be an artist - Why ChatGPT is an excellent tool to get a quick ballpark estimate- Developing a sixth sense about when ChatGPT is wrong- The power of AI instantly answering hard questions that would normally take months of research We also use ChatGPT to analyze a dataset of Olympic athletes live on the show—in pursuit of finding out which sport I’m best suited for!This episode is a must-watch for anyone curious about data science and how AI is transforming the future of creativity (or who is just a fan of the NBA).If you found this episode interesting, please like, subscribe, comment, and share!Want even more?Sign up for Every to unlock our ultimate guide to prompting ChatGPT. It’s usually only for paying subscribers, but you can get it ⁠here for free⁠. To hear more from Dan Shipper:Subscribe to ⁠Every ⁠Follow him on ⁠X⁠Links to resources mentioned in the episode:Seth Stephens-Davidowitz: ⁠https://twitter.com/SethS_D⁠ ⁠http://sethsd.com⁠Seth’s books: ⁠Who Makes the NBA?⁠ , ⁠Everybody Lies ⁠ and ⁠Don’t Trust Your Gut 

Nicholas Thorne is building Squarespace for the AI age. It’s called Audos, and it’s an AI chatbot to help any entrepreneur go from idea to:- Pitch deck- Working website- Custom GPT- User interviews with real customers All in just a few minutes. And he did it using ChatGPTapp. It’s AI all the way down—and it’s one of the most impressive AI businesses I’ve ever seen.Nicholas is a general partner at Prehype, an incubator that launched Barkbox and Ro Health. It’s also where I started Every, so it was great to come full circle.Nicholas’s job at Prehype is to launch new companies. He’s taken everything he’s learned running an incubator and used it to help entrepreneurs start businesses at scale—with AI.As we talk, Nicholas walks me through the interactions of Audos’s chatbot with a user live on the show. Nicholas tells me that he used ChatGPT to prototype most of Audos’s features—despite being non-technical himself. He shares exactly how he did this by showing me how he’s using AI to create a new feature for the product.We get into:- Ways AI can make you a more effective founder- How to use ChatGPT to build your prototype- Strategies to refine problem statements with AI- Using GPTs to gather and synthesize customer feedbackThis episode is a must-watch for anyone who has ever toyed with the idea of starting a business—and wants to do it with AI.If you found this episode interesting, please like, subscribe, comment, and share! Want even more?Sign up for Every to unlock our ⁠ultimate guide to prompting ChatGPT⁠. It’s usually only for paying subscribers, but you can get it here for free: https://every.ck.page/ultimate-guide-to-prompting-chatgptTo hear more from Dan Shipper:Subscribe to Every: ⁠https://every.to/subscribe⁠ Follow him on X: ⁠https://twitter.com/danshipper⁠ Timestamps:00:00:00 - Teaser00:00:48 - Introduction00:12:10 - How AI can make you a more effective founder00:17:03 - Live demo of Audos! 00:24:07 - Why Nicholas built an AI tool to enable entrepreneurs00:25:35 - How Audos puts you in “edit mode” instead of “create mode”00:28:12 - Tools to gather customer feedback, generated by Audos00:32:58 - How Audos actually works00:35:07 - Nicholas uses ChatGPT to prototype a new feature00:42:37 - How to establish checks and balances while using ChatGPT00:57:20 - AI as a force for pushing entrepreneurship to new heightsLinks to resources mentioned in the episode:Nicholas Thorne: ⁠@thorneny⁠; ⁠nicholas@prehype.com⁠ Audos: ⁠https://www.audos.com/⁠Nicholas’s book, Me, My Customer, and AI, is slated to publish next month. Follow him on X for updates: https://mmcai.super.site/

Antidepressants changed my life.I have OCD and antidepressants did what nearly a decade of therapy, meditation, and supplements couldn’t: they allowed me to live my life without being in a 24/7 spiral. (Bonus: they actually made therapy and meditation far more helpful once they started to work.) I think antidepressants are seriously misunderstood. Yes, they blunt negative emotions. But they also operate on personality and sense of self: they can make you bolder, less sensitive to failure, and less risk-averse.In short: they are a technology that changes how we see ourselves and the world.That’s why I invited Dr. Peter D. Kramer on my show. Dr. Kramer is a psychiatrist and the author of eight books, including Listening to Prozac, which is an international bestseller. He has practiced psychiatry and taught psychotherapy at Brown University for nearly four decades.Listening To Prozac is one of my favorite books, and it documents Dr. Kramer’s experiences as a psychiatrist seeing how antidepressants like Prozac changed his patients’ sense of self and personality.Now, you might be wondering why have him on a show about ChatGPT? Well, technology can change who we are even if it comes as a software product rather than a pill. It’s undoubtedly true that as generations of humans learn to live with AI, it will change what it means to be human—and how we see ourselves and the world. I think that can be a good thing, but it could also be scary.I wanted to talk to Dr. Kramer about his book, and see if we could apply some of his insights in Prozac to ChatGPT. It was an incredible conversation, and I was honored to talk to him.If you found this episode interesting, please like, subscribe, comment, and share! Want even more?Sign up for Every to unlock our ultimate guide to prompting ChatGPT. It’s usually only for paying subscribers, but you can get it here for free.To hear more from Dan Shipper:Subscribe to Every: https://every.to/subscribe Follow him on X: https://twitter.com/danshipper To learn more about the topics in this episode:Listening to Prozac by Peter D. KramerChatGPT and the Future of the Human Mind by Dan ShipperSSRIs by Scott AlexanderLinks to resources mentioned in the episode:Dr. Peter D. Kramer: https://twitter.com/PeterDKramer ChatGPT and the Future of the Human  Mind by Dan Shipper: https://every.to/chain-of-thought/chatgpt-and-the-future-of-the-human-mind Listening to Prozac  by Dr. Kramer: https://www.amazon.com/Listening-Prozac-Landmark-Antidepressants-Remaking/dp/0140266712 Should You Leave? by Dr. Kramer: https://www.amazon.com/Should-You-Leave-Psychiatrist-Autonomy/dp/0140272798 Against Depression by Dr. Kramer: https://www.amazon.com/Against-Depression-Peter-D-Kramer/dp/0143036963 Ordinarily Well by Dr. Kramer: https://www.amazon.com/Ordinarily-Well-Antidepressants-Peter-Kramer/dp/0374536961 Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote by Jorge Luis Borges: https://raley.english.ucsb.edu/wp-content/Engl10/Pierre-Menard.pdf The Soul of A New Machine by Tracy Kidder: https://www.amazon.com/Soul-New-Machine-Tracy-Kidder/dp/0316491977 Making Hay by Verlyn Klinkenborg: https://www.amazon.com/Making-Hay-Verlyn-Klinkenborg/dp/0941130185 Oranges by John McPhee: https://www.amazon.com/Oranges-John-McPhee/dp/0374512973