Chicago Booth Review Podcast

Have you had an AI job interview? Would you prefer to be interviewed by AI than by a human? And how would you expect AI interviewers to perform compared to their human counterparts? Chicago Booth’s Brian Jabarian talks about his research on AI interviews. Will they make human-to-human job interviews a thing of the past?

One way health policymakers can get people to exercise more is to pay them. But should we pay greater amounts to people who exercise more, and smaller sums to those who do less? Rebecca Dizon Ross tells us about her research on personalizing incentive payments to try to encourage exercise. Does getting people to choose their own exercise targets and financial compensation encourage them to walk more?

Veronika Ročková, an econometrician at Chicago Booth, dives into the intriguing world of AI and its unpredictability. She discusses how AI's tendency to 'hallucinate' information can be harnessed creatively. By applying Bayesian methods, she shows how to leverage randomness for improved medical diagnoses and smarter galaxy classification. Veronika emphasizes the importance of using probabilistic uncertainty for better decision-making and shares tips on crafting effective prompts to enhance AI outputs across various fields.

Technology is typically thought of as driving humans apart. But could it be used to promote a sense of empathy with others? Chicago Booth’s Alex Imas tells us about an experiment he ran using an immersive virtual-reality installation. Virtual reality, Imas reckons, could be used to help us relate to other people in real life.

We typically think of self-awareness as being a good thing. But if someone behaves badly and is aware that they’re behaving badly, is that worse than if they’re blissfully unaware? Chicago Booth’s Shereen Chaudhry has conducted research into the effects of self-awareness. When should we express self-awareness, and when should we convey that we weren’t as self-aware as we should have been?

Almost all companies borrow money – some of secured by assets they own, other debts unsecured. But is that distinction meaningful in the real world? Chicago Booth’s Raghuram Rajan talks about his research into corporate debt. In the past century, the amount of unsecured debt has soared. What’s the significance of that, and is it really unsecured?

What do startup founders need to do to get venture capitalists to invest? Do VCs invest in the right team, or the right idea? Do they invest where they can add value, or do they try to pick new businesses that are going to be winners from the start? Chicago Booth’s Steve Kaplan has surveyed venture capitalists to find out what they look for in startups, and he has a framework he uses to advise both founders and funders on how to pick winning companies.

When students are asked if they use AI to do their work, many say they don’t. But when they’re asked if other students re using AI, many more say that they do. Should we conclude that they’re not being honest about their own AI use? Chicago Booth’s Alex Imas has conducted research on students and AI. Why is using AI such a taboo? And how should schools and colleges respond to its inevitable creep?

It’s hard to say sorry, and it can be even harder to say sorry without following it up with whatever the other person did wrong. Why are apologies so hard? Chicago Booth’s Shereen Chaudhry has conducted research into the strategy of apologizing and blaming. Why do we care so much about others accepting their share of the blame? And when we know that we’ve done wrong, what’s holding us back from apologizing?

The Trump administration has gutted central government, lashed out at the Federal Reserve, and is attempting to dismantle the international trading order. Can America’s institutions survive? We hear from Chicago Booth’s Raghuram Rajan about the role of institutions in political economy. Are we seeing a reversal of fortunes, in which the US is looking more and more like a caricature of a poor country with poorly regarded institutions, growing inequality and a looming sovereign debt crisis?