AI-Curious with Jeff Wilser

In this episode of AI-Curious , Jeff Wilser reports from LA Tech Week, where he delves into the pressing questions surrounding AI’s role in Hollywood. Will AI replace actors and screenwriters, or will it enhance the creative process, making content production faster and more efficient? Jeff shares insights from a fireside chat with Susanne Daniels, former Global Head of Content at YouTube, on the...

In this episode of AI-Curious , host Jeff Wilser sits down with Allison Duettmann, CEO of Foresight Institute, an organization dedicated to advancing transformative technologies for the benefit of humanity. They dive into a forward-thinking conversation about AI, nanotechnology, brain emulation, and longevity biotech—exploring how these emerging fields could reshape our future. Key Topics: • Fores...

In this episode of AI-Curious , host Jeff Wilser delves into the rapidly evolving world of digital twins and their growing presence in everyday tasks, such as remote work. Jeff discusses Zoom’s new "AI Companion" feature, which allows users to create their own digital avatars—referred to as “digital twins”—that can attend meetings on their behalf. He also touches on the practical implica...

In this episode of AI-Curious , host Jeff Wilser dives deep into the shifting dynamics of AI with Parmy Olson, Bloomberg technology columnist and author of the book Supremacy: AI, ChatGPT, and the Race that Will Change the World . We explore her fascinating character study of Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, and Demis Hassabis, co-founder of DeepMind. Both men began with the ambitious vision of creating...

In this episode of AI-Curious , host Jeff Wilser shares a personal story about how ChatGPT helped him save time and optimize his podcast production workflow. By using ChatGPT’s Advanced Voice Mode , Jeff was able to create a weekly schedule while multitasking in the kitchen. He explains how practical AI tools can transform everyday productivity. Later in the episode, Jeff covers three quick update...

In this episode of AI-Curious , host Jeff Wilser sits down with acclaimed digital artist Shavonne Wong to explore her latest project, “Meet Eva Here”—an AI-powered social experiment examining the evolving relationship between humans and AI companions. Drawing inspiration from the “Be Right Back” episode of Black Mirror , Shavonne has created a chatbot that interacts with users, with conversations...

In this episode of AI-Curious , we dive into one of the most polarizing debates in AI right now: California’s SB-1047, the state’s proposed AI safety bill. After months of intense discussion, Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed the bill, which many considered to be the toughest AI regulation ever introduced in the U.S. But why? And what does this mean for the future of AI safety and innovation? We explor...

In this episode of AI-Curious , Jeff Wilser is joined by Denver’s Mayor Mike Johnston to discuss how governments can leverage AI for good. Recorded live from the Denver AI Summit, Mayor Johnston outlines his vision for using AI to enhance public services, streamline city operations, and solve pressing societal issues. The conversation covers a wide range of topics, including: •How Denver is becomi...

In this episode of AI-Curious , Jeff Wilser explores the role of AI in the film industry, focusing on a major new partnership between Lionsgate and AI video startup Runway. Could AI actors and AI-written scripts become the norm in Hollywood? With access to John Wick , Hunger Games , and 20,000 other movie and TV titles, Runway is poised to revolutionize film production. Jeff dives into how AI tool...

In this episode of AI-Curious , Jeff Wilser dives deep into AI critiques with Sara Watson, a leading technology critic. The conversation explores the often overlooked risks of AI, moving beyond the usual dystopian scenarios of robots taking over and instead addressing the more subtle, real-world implications of AI. Sara is a former principal analyst at Forrester, the co-founder of A People’s Histo...

In this episode of AI-Curious , here's your quick, bite-sized weekly roundup of the latest developments in artificial intelligence, starting with OpenAI’s newest model, the bizarrely-named “o1.” Is it a groundbreaking advancement or just another step in AI’s evolution? We explore both sides, offering a balanced look at the bullish and skeptical takes on the model. Key Topics: • [00:00] - Intr...

Two researchers from Virginia Tech recently published a study: “Representations and Consequences of Race in AI Systems.“ I'm thrilled that the co-authors of the study, Dr. Broderick Turner (Assistant Professor of Marketing at Virginia Tech) and Angela Yi (Doctoral Candidate at Virginia Tech) could join AI-Curious to discuss the takeaways from their study, and more broadly, help us unpack the...

Welcome to the debut episode of The Weekly AI Edge! This is part of the AI-Curious podcast. Each week you'll be getting short, punchy roundups of key AI news. We'll get you in and out. This week: A company called Weave Robotics announced that it's now taking pre-orders for humanoid robots that can do household chores -- like fold laundry, feed your dog, etc.  This is just the latest...

Fun announcement! Starting next week, AI-Curious will be serving up two episodes each week:  1) One long-form interview with thought leaders in the space (what we've been doing for the past week), and.. 2) "The Edge," a weekly roundup of AI news. This will be short, punchy, and fun(ish). Each week we'll have one headline topic, and then three quick things. That's it. No mu...

Happy Anniversary! Exactly one year ago, we launched AI-Curious. We've published an episode every week since, rain or shine, work or holiday, human or AI. We've spoken with CEOs, philosophers, artists, inventors -- but it all started with a conversation with two Hollywood producers: John Attanasio and Luisa Huang, the cofounders of Toonstar studios. Toonstar has been using AI for years t...

AI, as even its supporters acknowledge, has many problems today. Just a few: Concerns over data privacy, creators not getting compensated for supplying the data that trains the AI models, lack of trust of Big Tech AI, a shortage of the high-powered chips needed to train AI, debates over censorship, and on and on. Could Decentralized AI be the answer? I'm joined today by Mark Rydon, cofounder...

Can AI help us live forever? Okay, that's the click-baitey version of the question, but the real version is far more nuanced. Our guest today is a leader of the transhumanism movement -- Dr. Natasha Vita-More -- and she explains what it is, what it's *not*, how AI is involved, and why we are likely to see a dramatic improvement to our lifespan... Dr. Vita-More dispels some common misconc...

Is AI going to replace writers? Or is AI just terrible at writing? Maybe neither of these viewpoints is accurate. Instead, AI can be a tool to help people write -- whether that's fiction or academia or emails to your boss. Today's guest, Mushtaq Bilal, PhD, is a master at using AI to assist with writing projects. He writes about this prolifically on Twitter/X and LinkedIn, and he's...

Andy Ayrey likes to experiment with AI. He had an idea: What if he created a room where two AI chatbots talked to each other...infinitely? What would happen? (Wackiness.) Then he had another idea. He created a new chatbot, imbued it with all kinds of content about himself (Andy), and then unleashed the chatbot to Twitter. He affectionally calls it "The Little Guy." Then the little guy be...

Every day (including weekends), Nathaniel Whittemore cranks out the "AI Daily Brief" podcast. It's excellent. He also runs an AI education community called "Superintelligent." It also looks excellent. In short, there's literally no one on the planet more plugged into what's happening in the world of AI than Nathaniel, better known as "NLW." We nerd out...

In this "snack size" edition, we're covering some quick housekeeping and sharing a vignette about some wacky AI hallucinations. The housekeeping: I'm excited to share that AI-Curious is near the end of Phase 1. Soon we'll be expanding, growing, scaling. Soon we'll be adding more coverage of the latest news, trends, and developments in the AI space. We'll also kee...

If you’re even tangentially involved in marketing, you’re either: 1) Actively using AI; 2) Thinking about using AI; or 3) Falling behind. So today we’re going to go deeeeeep in the world of AI and Marketing, and there’s no one better to guide us than David Berkowitz, Founder of the AI Marketers Guild. The AI Marketers Guild is a community of thousands of marketers across a wide range of industries...

For over 20 years, Avi Veidman served in the Israeli intelligence forces, and he used AI to to map the world. In the military he used AI for national defense, and he learned its power. He then realized that just as AI could map a battlefield, it could map cancer cells in biopsies and pathology slides. Enter Nucleai, his company that’s using AI to improve the science of “spatial biology,” which can...

Virtually everyone in the AI space and Hollywood can agree on one thing: the system is broken. There’s no clear way of how to handle AI in Hollywood — or virtually any creative field — which has led to confusion, frustration, anger, and lawsuits. No one seems to have a good solution. Enter Story Protocol. Story, co-founded by today’s guest Jason Zhao (formerly of Google Deep Mind), is working to b...

As most people who have played with AI know, it can make stuff up, or what’s often referred to as “hallucinate.” (I like to think of it as “bullshitting.” It’s one of the trickiest problems vexing the entire AI space. Why does AI do this? How widespread is the problem? What are the solutions, and is it even something that CAN be solved? To unravel all this, we speak with Neil Katz, the founder of...