Azeem Azhar's Exponential View

Ford has been making cars for 118 years — nearly all of them with internal combustion engines. It now faces the biggest challenge in its history. As the electric vehicle (EV) revolution accelerates and people rethink their relationships with cars, both automotive incumbents and upstarts are planning for a radically different world. Ford’s chief product platform and operations officer Hau Thai-Tang is ideally placed to discuss what that shift looks like. He and Azeem Azhar explore how EV uptake will transform what a car is and what it means to own and drive one, as well as what it will take to retool Ford to thrive in the technology age. They also discuss: How doing away with combustion engines will revolutionize car design. Why exponential uptake of EVs could happen within the next five years. Why carmakers will start to look more like Netflix and Apple. @azeem @exponentialview Further resources: ‘Ford, SK to invest $11.4 bln to add electric F-150 plant, three battery factories’ (Reuters) ‘Trends and developments in electric vehicle markets’ (IEA) ‘Levels of Autonomous Driving, Explained’ (J.D. Power) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The climate crisis is the defining issue of our age, and to fight it effectively, we’ll have to redesign our world. That requires money and technological innovation – but it also demands knowledge of local communities, and policymaking. Dawn Lippert works at the intersection of all of those issues. She’s the founder and CEO of Elemental Excelerator, a non-profit incubator that helps climate-focused startups deploy their technologies. In September 2021, Elemental spun out a $60m venture-capital fund that will help entrepreneurs tackling climate change to scale their solutions more rapidly. She joins Azeem Azhar to discuss how innovative climate tech companies can make it to market, and why workers at Silicon Valley’s biggest companies are flocking to the fight against climate change. They also discuss: The real-world challenges climate tech investors need to understand. What Silicon Valley investors need to learn to work in climate tech. Why climate impact investing is about more than reducing greenhouse gases. @elementalexcel @azeem @exponentialview Further resources: Elemental Excelerator: global non-profit at the intersection of climate, innovation and equity Ampaire: electric aircraft with real utility Dimensional Energy: transforming CO2 from waste to resource Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Google, Facebook, Apple, and Uber are just some of the enormous companies that derive part of their value from network effects: The more users they have, the more value they provide. Network effects aren’t new. The basic principles that underpinned faxes and phone lines also underpin social media. But rapid technological change has made network effects more prevalent and more powerful than ever before. Serial entrepreneur and early-stage investor James Currier is one of the world’s foremost experts on networks, and on the companies that use them best. He joins Azeem Azhar to discuss how companies with network effects dominate markets, and why their influence will likely continue to grow. They also discuss: Why network-effects companies dominate global markets, and how they can recast the way we think about the world. Why networks can become harder to manage as they grow – and harder to do without. The problems globe-spanning networks can cause – especially when the motives of dominant corporate players don’t align with what’s best for our societies. How we should govern those networks in the coming decades. @JamesCurrier @azeem @exponentialview Further resources: NFX’s Network Effects Bible (NFX) “How to Regulate Facebook, with Nick Clegg” (Exponential View Podcast, 2021) “Messi joins crypto craze as gets part of PSG fee in fan tokens” (Reuters, 2021) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Kim Stanley Robinson, the legendary science-fiction novelist, has a private utopian hope: “to dodge a mass extinction event.” He joins Azeem Azhar to explore his recent novel, The Ministry For the Future, and what it would take for institutions, individuals, and emerging technologies to save millions of lives. They also discuss: When civil disobedience and direct climate action may become a moral necessity. Why central banks and a radical shift of economic incentives are vital to drive decarbonization. What climate restoration is and why it offers better prospects than climate engineering. @azeem @exponentialview Kim Stanley Robinson Further resources: “Applying the Pandemic Mindset to Climate Change with Cory Doctorow” (Exponential View podcast, 2020) “What can climate tech do for us?” (Exponential View newsletter, 2020) “The Ministry For the Future” (Hachette, 2020) “It’s Not Science Fiction” (The New York Review on The Ministry For the Future, 2020) “Top central banks identify nine ways to make their policies greener” (Financial Times, 2021) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Facebook serves 34 percent of the world’s population and decides who to block and what to censor. How should governments regulate this startling power? Nick Clegg, the UK’s former deputy prime minister and now vice president of Global Affairs and Communications at Facebook, joins Azeem Azhar to explore how governments might reassert control in the exponential age. They also discuss: The major regulatory legislation coming down the pike in the U.S., the EU, and India. Why allowing data portability between networks could be good for competition but a challenge for privacy. Whether Facebook’s Oversight Board could be used to regulate other tech companies. Why Clegg is pushing Facebook for increased transparency of its algorithms. @nickclegg @azeem @exponentialview Further resources: “Fixing the Social Media Crisis” (Exponential View podcast with Sinan Aral, 2021) “A bipartisan approach to break the deadlock on internet regulation” (Nick Clegg, Medium, 2021) “Facebook must not be allowed to dictate how it gets regulated” (Wired, 2020) “Battle commences A formidable alliance takes on Facebook” (The Economist, 2020) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Visa processes more than 500 million transactions every day. How is the world’s largest digital payment platform adapting to new technologies and fresh competition? Charlotte Hogg, executive vice president and CEO of its European operations, joins Azeem Azhar to explore the evolving ecosystem of digital payments. They also discuss: Why Visa should be seen as a platform-based technology company like Google, despite being an established financial institution. Why the Visa’s “open network” model demands a level playing field for all participants. Why an increasingly cashless world is pushing central banks towards digital currencies. How the payment platform is now enabling settlement in the USDC stablecoin – a cryptocurrency pegged to the U.S. dollar. @azeem @exponentialview Further resources: “Visa launches suite of AI tools to enable smarter payments” (TechRadar, 2021) “Central banks get serious on digital currencies” (Financial Times, 2021) “Bitcoin and the Future of Decentralized Finance” (Exponential View podcast, 2021) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

From predictive policing to automated credit scoring, algorithms applied on a massive scale, gone unchecked, represent a serious threat to our society. Dr. Rumman Chowdhury, director of Machine Learning Ethics, Transparency and Accountability at Twitter, joins Azeem Azhar to explore how businesses can practice responsible AI to minimize unintended bias and the risk of harm. They also discuss: How you can assess and diagnose bias in unexplainable “black box” algorithms. Why responsible AI demands top-down organizational change, implementing new metrics and systems of redress. How Twitter led an audit of its own image-cropping algorithm that was alleged to bias white faces over people of color. The emerging field of “Responsible Machine Learning Operations” (MLOps). @ruchowdh @azeem @exponentialview Further resources: “Sharing learnings about our image cropping algorithm” (Twitter Blog, 2021) “As AI develops, so does the debate over profits and ethics” (Financial Times, 2021) “It’s time for AI ethics to grow up” (Wired, 2020) “Auditing Algorithms for Bias” (Harvard Business Review, 2018) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

AI hackers are coming, and it’s not just our computer networks at risk – our laws and regulations are also vulnerable. Bruce Schneier, internationally renowned security technologist and fellow at Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society, joins Azeem Azhar to explore how humans have always exploited loopholes in rule-based systems, and how that will change as AIs become more powerful. They also discuss: Why making AI systems easier to monitor and regulate also makes them less powerful. Why we need mechanisms for agile policy response when legislation and regulation get hacked. Why AI hackers might end up benefiting system designers and cyber-defenses in the long run. @schneierblog @azeem @exponentialview Further resources: “Cybersecurity in the Age of AI” (Exponential View podcast, 2019) “The Coming AI Hackers” (Belfer Centre report by Bruce Schneier, 2021) “Why Was SolarWinds So Vulnerable to a Hack?” (New York Times, 2021) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Could we have a financial industry without banks or brokers? That’s the vision of decentralized finance – or DeFi – in which financial products are built from tamper-proof digital smart contracts interacting with blockchains. Sergey Nazarov, co-founder of Chainlink, joins Azeem Azhar to explore the promise of this emerging sector to bring greater transparency, control, and yield for both customers and businesses. They also discuss: How blockchains and smart contracts work together to reconfigure the fundamentals of finance, as we currently experience it. Why the outrage felt by Robinhood users (when trading in GameStop was paused) reveals an underlying weakness in traditional finance. What blockchain oracles are, and how Chainlink is using them to build the decentralized infrastructure that will enable the widespread adoption of DeFi products and cryptocurrencies. @SergeyNazarov @azeem @exponentialview “Bitcoin and the Future of Decentralized Finance” (Exponential View podcast with Meltem Demirors, 2021) “DeFi Can ‘Transform Global Finance’” (Decrypt, 2021) “What Is Chainlink and Why Is It Important in the World of Cryptocurrency?” (Yahoo Finance, 2021) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

AI can offer a new type of competitive advantage, but entrepreneurs need to know what it is and how to unlock it. Ash Fontana, author of The AI First Company and managing director at Zetta Venture Partners – a firm that exclusively invests in early-stage AI startups, joins Azeem Azhar to explore the risks and rewards of applying AI to business problems. They also discuss: Why the high up-front cost of developing AI models favors multi-sector businesses. Which is more important for an AI-focused company: domain expertise or AI expertise? How AI startups should assess the risk of being usurped by Big Tech. Why Amazon’s sophisticated AI regularly offers nonsensical recommendations. @ashfontana @azeem @exponentialview “Creating an AI-First Business with Andrew Ng” (Exponential View podcast, 2019) “Businesses are finding AI hard to adopt” (The Economist, 2020) “Competing in the Age of AI” (Harvard Business Review, 2020) The AI First Company: How to Compete and Win With Artificial Intelligence (Ash Fontana, 2021) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.