We're excited to welcome Jamie Boyle to the podcast. Jamie is a law professor and author of the thought-provoking book The Line: AI and the Future of Personhood. In The Line, Jamie challenges our assumptions about personhood and humanity, arguing that these boundaries are more fluid than traditionally believed. He explores diverse contexts like animal rights, corporate personhood, and AI development to illustrate how debates around personhood permeate philosophy, law, art, and morality. Jamie uses fascinating examples from science fiction, legal history, and philosophy to illustrate the challe ..read more

We're excited to welcome to the podcast Shannon Vallor, professor of ethics and technology at the University of Edinburgh, and the author of The AI Mirror. In her book, Shannon invites us to rethink AI—not as a futuristic force propelling us forward, but as a reflection of our past, capturing both our human triumphs and flaws in ways that shape our present reality. In The AI Mirror, Shannon uses the powerful metaphor of a mirror to illustrate the nature of AI. She argues that AI doesn’t represent a new intelligence; rather, it reflects human cognition in all its complexity, limitatio ..read more

We're excited to welcome to the podcast Matt Beane, Assistant Professor at UC Santa Barbara and the author of the book "The Skill Code: How to Save Human Ability in an Age of Intelligent Machines." Matt’s research investigates how AI is changing the traditional apprenticeship model, creating a tension between short-term performance gains and long-term skill development. His work has particularly focused on the relationship between junior and senior surgeons in the operating theater. As he told us, "In robotic surgery, I was seeing that the way technology was being handled in the operating room ..read more

We're excited to welcome to the podcast Emily M. Bender, professor of computational linguistics at the University of Washington. As our listeners know, we enjoy tapping expertise in fields adjacent to the intersection of humans and AI. We find Emily’s expertise in linguistics to be particularly important when understanding the capabilities and limitations of large language models—and that’s why we were eager to talk with her. Emily is perhaps best known in the AI community for coining the term "stochastic parrots" to describe these models, highlighting their ability to mimic human language wit ..read more

We're excited to welcome to the podcast John Havens, a multifaceted thinker at the intersection of technology, ethics, and sustainability. John's journey has taken him from professional acting to becoming a thought leader in AI ethics and human wellbeing. In his 2016 book, "Heartificial Intelligence: Embracing Our Humanity to Maximize Machines," John presents a thought-provoking examination of humanity's relationship with AI. He introduces the concept of "codifying our values" - our crucial need as a species to define and understand our own ethics before we entrust machines to make decisions f ..read more

We’re excited to welcome to the podcast Leslie Valiant, a pioneering computer scientist and Turing Award winner renowned for his groundbreaking work in machine learning and computational learning theory. In his seminal 1983 paper, Leslie introduced the concept of Probably Approximately Correct or PAC learning, kick-starting a new era of research into what machines can learn. Now, in his latest book, The Importance of Being Educable: A New Theory of Human Uniqueness, Leslie builds upon his previous work to present a thought-provoking examination of what truly sets human intelligence apart. He i ..read more

We’re excited to welcome to the podcast Jonathan Feinstein, professor at the Yale School of Management and author of Creativity in Large-Scale Contexts: Guiding Creative Engagement and Exploration. Our interest in creativity is broader than the context of the creative professions like art, design, and music. We see creativity as the foundation of how we move ahead as a species including our culture, science, and innovation. We’re interested in the huge combinatorial space of creativity, linked together by complex networks. And that interest led us to Jonathan. Through his research and intervie ..read more

We’re excited to welcome to the podcast Karaitiana Taiuru. Dr Taiuru is a leading authority and a highly accomplished visionary Māori technology ethicist specialising in Māori rights with AI, Māori Data Sovereignty and Governance with emerging digital technologies and biological sciences. Karaitiana has been a champion for Maori cultural and intellectual property rights in the digital space since the late 1990s. With the recent emergence of AI into the mainstream, Karaitiana sees both opportunities and risks for indigenous peoples like the Maori. He believes AI can either be a tool for further ..read more

We’re excited to welcome to the podcast Omri Allouche, the VP of Research at Gong, an AI-driven revenue intelligence platform for B2B sales teams. Omri has had a fascinating career journey with a PhD in computational ecology before moving into the world of AI startups. At Gong, Omri leads research into how AI and machine learning can transform the way sales teams operate. In our conversation today, we'll explore Omri's perspective on managing AI research and innovation. We'll discuss Gong’s approach to analyzing sales conversations at scale, and the challenges of building AI systems that sales ..read more

We’re excited to welcome to the podcast Dr. Angel Acosta, an expert on healing-centered education and leadership. Angel runs the Acosta Institute which helps communities process trauma and build environments for people to thrive. He also facilitates leadership programs at the Garrison Institute that support the next generation of contemplative leaders. With his background in social sciences, curriculum design, and adult education, Angel has been thinking deeply about how artificial intelligence intersects with mindfulness, social justice and education. In our conversat ..read more