Azeem Azhar's Exponential View

In his brief commentary, Azeem Azhar shares his outlook on how artificial intelligence could change the labor market, drawing on research published by Goldman Sachs, titled “The Potentially Large Effect of Artificial Intelligence on Economic Growth.” The paper suggests a positive impact on economic growth, alongside a shift to automation that could affect two-thirds of US occupations. Twitter: @azeem @exponentialview Further resources: The Potentially Large Effect of Artificial Intelligence on Economic Growth, Goldman Sachs, March 2023 After AI, Where Will the Jobs Come From? Azeem Azhar 2023 The Future of AI in the Workplace: A Survey of American Managers, 2023

Drawing on Carlota Perez’s framework, Azeem Azhar considers whether large language models (LLMs), such as OpenAI’s GPT-4, will drive a paradigm shift across our economies. His discussion touches on LLMs’ wide applications, their reliance on affordable computation and digital data, and their compatibility with existing and potential future digital infrastructures. Twitter: @azeem @exponentialview Further resources: LLMs and Technological Revolutions, Azeem Azhar 2023 Technological Revolutions and Techno-Economic Paradigms, Carlota Perez, 2010

Artificial intelligence (AI) is dominating the headlines, but it’s not a new topic here on Exponential View. This week and next, Azeem Azhar shares his favorite conversations with AI pioneers. Their work and insights are more relevant than ever. For Jürgen Schmidhuber, a recognized pioneer in AI, artificial intelligence is much more than another technological revolution. He sees it as the opportunity to transcend humanity and biology. In this conversation, taped in 2019, Jürgen and Azeem Azhar discuss what the next thirty years of AI will look like. They also discussed: The role of Long Short-Term Memory architecture in recent AI breakthroughs. Why the next AI wave will see machines actively shaping the data that they perceive. The second- and third-order consequences of bringing these more sophisticated artificial neural networks into our world. Jürgen Schmidhuber @Azeem Exponential View

Artificial intelligence (AI) is dominating the headlines, but it’s not a new topic here on Exponential View. Azeem Azhar shares his favorite conversations with AI experts. Their work and insights are more relevant than ever. Gary Marcus is well known as a deep learning critic. A neuroscientist, founder, and the author of Rebooting AI: Building Artificial Intelligence We Can Trust, Marcus believes that researchers need to move past deep learning in order to make true advances in machine intelligence. In 2019, he joined Azeem Azhar to discuss why, how, and when we can expect progress. They also discussed: What newborn ibexes can teach us about intelligence and learning. How deep learning promulgates the gap between big companies and startups. What we need for a breakthrough in AI. Further reading: How to Build Artificial Intelligence We Can Trust, Gary Marcus, September 6, 2019 Deep Learning: A Critical Appraisal, Gary Marcus, January 2, 2018 @garymarcus @azeem Exponential View

Artificial intelligence (AI) is dominating the headlines, but it’s not a new topic here on Exponential View. This week and next, Azeem Azhar shares his favorite conversations with AI pioneers. Their work and insights are more relevant than ever.  Demis Hassabis, CEO and co-founder of DeepMind, dreams of using AI to solve fundamental problems in science. In 2020, he joined Azeem to explore his own journey from world champion gamer to neuroscientist to building AI systems that can train themselves to solve real-world engineering challenges and, eventually, make Nobel-prize winning discoveries. In 2023, DeepMind’s parent company Alphabet announced consolidation of its biggest research units, DeepMind and Google Brain, into a new division led by Demis. They also discuss: Why games are the perfect training ground for AI algorithms. How DeepMind combines the dynamism of a startup with the “blue sky” creativity of a lab. Why “deep reinforcement learning” is the basis for artificial intelligence systems. @demishassabis @azeem @exponentialview

Artificial intelligence (AI) is dominating the headlines, but it’s not a new topic here on Exponential View. This week and next, Azeem Azhar shares his favorite conversations with AI pioneers. Their work and insights are more relevant than ever. OpenAI has stunned the world with the release of its language-generating AI, ChatGPT-4. In 2020, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman joined Azeem Azhar to reflect on the huge attention generated by the precursor to GPT-4 and what that could mean for the future research and development toward the creation of artificial general intelligence (AGI). They also explored: How AGI could be used both to reduce and exacerbate inequality How governance models need to change to address the growing power of technology companies How Altman’s experience leading YCombinator informed his leadership of OpenAI Further reading: “The messy, secretive reality behind OpenAI’s bid to save the world“ (Wired, 2020) “Sam Altman’s Manifest Destiny“ (New Yorker, 2016) “Governance in the Age of AI“ (Exponential View Podcast, 2019) @sama @azeem @exponenialview

After producing more than 160 episodes of Exponential View over the last six years, we’re taking a break to reflect on what we’ve learned and how the conversations we’ve hosted with leaders are changing our perspective on the future. While we percolate on the future of our podcast, we have a challenge for you: find all the phenomenal conversations we’ve hosted that you haven’t heard yet – and take a listen. (And please let us know which episodes helped you understand the world and your future!) @azeem @exponentialviews Azeem’s listening recommendations: Bubbles, Golden Ages, and Tech Revolutions with Professor Carlota Perez (Exponential View Podcast, 2019) AI and the Future of Warfare with General Sir Richard Barrons (Exponential View Podcast, 2019) DeepMind’s Journey from Games to Fundamental Science with Demis Hassabis (Exponential View Podcast, 2020) The New Science of Aging with Professor David Sinclair (Exponential View Podcast, 2020)

Shield AI’s autonomous combat robots are intended to help protect civilians and service members. As a startup, barely two years past founding, how should Shield AI engage with the legacy bureaucratic institutions that are its customers? How should those partnerships be structured and what are the business incentives? This episode is a special introduction to Cold Call, another podcast from Harvard Business Review. Cold Call distills Harvard Business School’s legendary case studies into podcast form, with help from HBS faculty authors and the entrepreneurs and business leaders at the center of the action. In this episode, host Brian Kenny explores Shield AI’s work with the U.S. government to develop autonomous combat robots. Harvard Business School professor Mitch Weiss and Brandon Tseng, Shield AI’s CGO and co-founder, join Brian to discuss the challenges start-ups face in working with the public sector, and how investing in new ideas can enable entrepreneurs and governments to join forces to solve big problems. You can listen to Cold Call at https://hbr.org/2019/04/podcast-cold-call or wherever you get your podcasts.

How do you talk about a product before anything like it exists? How do you guide the engineers building it and the marketing department who has to sell it? As co-creator of the iPod and iPhone, founder of the learning thermostat Nest, and with over 300 patents to his name, Tony Fadell is a serial entrepreneur who now focuses on investing. He tells Azeem Azhar how he uses opinion-based decision-making in his work, and why thinking like a product manager helps drive radical innovation. They also discuss: What a “parent CEO” is and why they are crucial to an innovating company. How focusing on profits and loss (“P&L”) can stifle innovation in large companies. Why no one has been able to design the perfect TV remote. Why Tony believes the metaverse, as a social experience, is doomed to fail. @azeem @exponentialview @tfadell Further resources: General Magic (Documentary Film 2018)

Carbon recycling takes our polluting carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide and, with the help of bacteria, turns them into ethanol. This can replace oil as the basis for carbon-based chemicals industries (e.g., fertilizers, plastics, clothing, health and beauty products, etc.), as well as offering sustainable fuel and animal feed. Jennifer Holmgren, CEO of LanzaTech, joins Azeem Azhar to share her vision of the future where greenhouse gases provide a core contribution to our sustainable life. Jennifer and Azeem dig deep into the science of fermentation and how to manage, at scale, the bacteria that are at the heart of their process. They also discuss: How regulators can help innovate in climate tech. Creating sustainable aviation fuels. How carbon recycling could empower local communities. @azeem @exponentialview @TodaDogs Further resources: Hydrogen’s Role in Decarbonization (Exponential View Podcast, 2022) Venture Capital and Deep Decarbonization (Exponential View Podcast, 2022) Phenomenal News from ClimateTech Unicorn, LanzaTech (Forbes, 2022)