Win-Win with Liv Boeree

Advanced AI is coming. Is it time for the government to step in and regulate? Or is it better in the hands of the market and tech CEOs? Or is there a more nuanced way to think about this topic entirely?  Welcome to the ANTI-DEBATE. It's debating, but with a positive-sum twist! My guests today are two of the most qualified people on either side this topic: former Trump AI advisor Dean Ball, and...

Free speech is often treated as a political issue. But what if it’s the foundational technology that makes peaceful civilization possible in the first place? I sat down with Greg Lukianoff — free speech advocate, first amendment attorney, and longtime leader of FIRE.org — to explore why freedom of expression is humanity’s ultimate win-win innovation. Greg strongly believes free speech is at risk a...

Which LLM is best at POKER? What about the social deception game Werewolf? This week I'm collaborating with ⁠ @googledeepmind ⁠ and ⁠ @kaggle ⁠ to explain their new “AI Game Arena” project, designed to test all the top LLMs at various games. The Game Arena is a massive research project to create new AI benchmarks, and understand what really makes these general-purpose AIs tick. It also helps u...

Superintelligence is predicted to arrive within a decade. If that's true, then what comes AFTER? And how can we prepare for it? Which is why I sat down with one of the few people actively thinking about this: philosopher Will MacAskill. Will heads up Forethought, a research nonprofit focused on how to navigate the transition to a world with superintelligent AI systems. He’s also a former Oxfor...

What if the biggest risk from AI isn’t superintelligence gone rogue, but the inflexibility of our human institutions? My guest today, Tyler Cowen, thinks so. Tyler is a professor at George Mason university and one of the most celebrated economists in the world. And unlike many AI proponents, Tyler strongly challenges the idea that intelligence alone determines outcomes in society, and instead poin...

What if the purpose of life is to find ways of harmonizing the forces of nature, including the nature of ourselves? My guest this week thinks so. I sat down with systems thinker and "True Human" author Samantha Sweetwater to talk about the metacrisis and the future of civilization in the age of AI. Samantha’s work bridges complexity science, indigenous wisdom, embodiment, and systems theory to exp...

Britain was once a beacon of liberty, and the birthplace of the industrial revolution. So why is its economy floundering, while the USA is surging? Has a culture of extreme bureaucracy turned the former global powerhouse into a stagnant "nanny state"? My guest today is Katie Lam, a Member of Parliament willing to speak uncomfortable truths. From the grooming gangs scandal, to anarcho-tyranny, to a...

Capitalism has historically been our biggest blessing. But what if it's now turning into our biggest curse? Is it time to change the game? My guest today believes so. Jim Rutt is an early internet pioneer, complexity scientist, former chairman of the Santa Fe Institute, and co-founder of the Game B movement... and he has a lot to say about how our economic and technological systems have trapped us...

Superintelligent AI is rapidly approaching, and humanity (specifically, the labs building it) is still a long way from proving it can be safely controlled. But what if that’s the wrong way of viewing the problem? Is there a way to instill values to the mutual benefit of both humans and machines? In this episode of the Win-Win Podcast, Liv sits down with Emmett Shear — Twitch co-founder, former int...

Energy is the lifeblood of civilization. Is nuclear power the source of abundant clean energy that's been under our noses this whole time? In this episode of the Win-Win Podcast, Liv sits down with Isabelle Boemeke (founder of Isodope & energy expert) to tackle the debate between abundance and degrowth, sustainability, safety & energy infrastructure concerns, AI and emerging technologi...

Dominic Cummings is one of the most polarizing figures in Britain. He's a political strategist who masterminded the main campaign for Brexit. He was also Chief Advisor to Prime Minister Boris Johnson for some of his term, including through COVID. He even had Benedict Cumberbatch play him in a movie! He's also a student of systems, having worked in or around government and civil institutions all hi...

The world is having fewer babies than ever. But how bad is this, really? What's causing it? Is there a win-win solution out there that can help people have more babies, if they want them? In this special "Win-Win Live" event, I speak to Professor Dean Spears - a demographer and economist whose research examines the impact of population decline. He's the author of the book "A...

Democracy is in deep trouble. Could replacing politicians with real data save it? In this episode Liv sits down with Jamie Joyce – founder of the Society Library — to explore one of the most urgent questions of our time: how do we make sense of complex issues in the age of misinformation, algorithmic bias, and AI slop? We hear what happens when you treat information not as content to consume, but...

Humanity is in a race to build superintelligent AI gods. What happens if we create beings smarter than us—and can no longer steer them? In this special Win-Win IRL episode, Liv Boeree sits down with Anthony Aguirre (CEO of Future of Life Institute) and Malo Bourgon (CEO of MIRI) for a no-holds-barred conversation on finding alignment, avoiding power concentration and surveillance states, and the g...

What if AI isn’t replacing us—but redefining what it means to be skilled? Liv talks with engineer and educator Harper Carroll about how AI is transforming education, leveling the playing field for creators, and reshaping how we build, learn, and make decisions. A grounded look at the tools, challenges, and surprising upsides of the AI era, as well as a personal exploration of the spirituality (or...

Factory farming is one of the most universally loathed industries on Earth —so why is it still growing? Today I chat with Lewis Bollard, a leading researcher in farm animal welfare and global food policy, to understand the true scale and impact of industrial animal agriculture, and what we can do to improve it. We hear how corporate lobbying and political corruption have allowed the normalization...

AI is developing at breakneck speed—but are we properly prepared for what’s coming? To explore this question Igor and I grabbed leading AI researcher and forecaster Daniel Kokotajlo for a conversation about why he left OpenAI, what's right and wrong with their company culture, and how tabletop wargames are one of the best tools we have to prepare for AGI and superintelligence in the current hy...

Protests, lock-ins, encampments…the culture on university campuses is certainly fraught these days! As political discourse worsens among young people, I couldn’t think of anyone better to explore this issue with than Manu Meel .  Manu is the founder and CEO of Bridge USA ; a movement to help students and other young people engage in constructive dialogue and disagreement to improve the quality of...

In this episode of the Win Win Podcast, Liv and Igor sit down with Wait But Why creator Tim Urban to explore everything from his unexpected pet tortoise, Winston, to the mind-bending implications of superintelligent AI.We hear about his latest foray into book writing, and how he’s structured his workflow to overcome his damn procrastination monkey. The crew also discuss such classics as free will,...

A deep dive into the game theory and exponential growth underlying our modern economic system, and how recent advancements in AI are poised to turn up the pressure on that system -- and our wider environment -- in ways we have never seen before. Not a conversation for the faint hearted, but crucial nonetheless. Daniel Schmachtenberger is a founding member of The Consilience Project, a research org...

In this episode of the Win-Win podcast we are floating off the coast of Starbase, watching the live launch of Starship 6 with Bill Perkins. Bill is a founder of two satellite imaging companies that aim to address environmental issues by making satellite data—once inaccessible to the public—widely available, revolutionizing everything from climate monitoring to illegal fishing enforcement. We also...

Explore the future of cooperation and technology in this thought-provoking episode of the Win Win Podcast ! Liv chats to Allison Duettman from the Foresight Institute about how to harness emerging technologies like AI, nanotechnology, and blockchain to create a freer, more coordinated world. They explore concepts like "existential hope," "multipolar active shields," and "P...

n case you missed it, Liv just won a record-breaking $2,800,000 in the World Series of Poker last month In this episode, she and Igor discuss her victory, why it represents a win-win for both her and animals... how to fix social media... Magnus Carlsen's jeans drama, a drunken game of backgammon and much more. Chapters: 0:00 - Intro and Backgammon 2:45 - Liv’s World Series of Poker Win 10:19 - Liv...

The Botez sisters are no strangers to competition. But how do they manage their competitive urges? How does it affect their relationship to one another, as sisters? These are just some of the many intimate topics we cover in today's Win-Win episode. Best known for their hilarious chess streaming videos, Andrea and Alexandra Botez are some of the world's most celebrated gamers - born into a househo...

How fast is the AI race really going? What is the current state of Quantum Computing? What actually *is* the P vs NP problem? - former OpenAI researcher and theoretical computer scientist Scott Aaronson joins Liv and Igor to discuss everything quantum, AI and consciousness. We hear about his experience working on OpenAI's "superalignment team", whether quantum computers might break Bitcoin, the st...