AI-Curious with Jeff Wilser

So what did we learn about AI in 2023? What are the most important trends? To make sense of this wild new space, I’m joined by tech strategist and AI consultant George Kamide, who’s also the co-host of the cybersecurity podcast, “Bare Knuckles and Brass Tacks.” George and I cover: The public’s “first contact” with generative AI, and why that seems to be plateauing (03:00); the merits of “tuning” a...

You get a FaceTime from a loved one. They're in trouble. Big trouble.  Their life is in danger. They need you to Venmo you $, they have no choice. Except...it's not them you're FaceTiming with, it's an AI-enabled deepfake that can talk to you real-time. Welcome to the fun world of AI phishing and cyberattacks! Christian Seifert, a veteran cyber-security expert (he used to head...

Now it's time for the flip side of AI. What could go wrong? Daniel Colson is the Executive Director of The AI Policy Institute, which has a mission of helping policy-makers create smart regulation. They also conduct polling to better understand how Americans are thinking about AI.  Daniel, at heart, is a tech optimist, but in this episode he breaks down the reasons that AI makes him pause.  W...

Send in the clones. They're here.  Don Bosco is the founder and CEO of BHuman, a start-up that is, well.... creating human clones. For real! Don has cloned himself and he can easily clone you. (Digitally, at least.) So why the cloning? Don views this as a way for him to get more done in his own life -- his clone can knock out all the pesky online things he doesn't want to do. We cover a...

When the AI hype began in earnest, "marketing and advertising" was one of the industries seen as most likely to be disrupted.  This is already happening. Enter Deniz Ozgur, partner at AI marketing firm Evercopy, and one of Forbes' "30 Under 30" for her groundbreaking work in retail and ecommerce.  Deniz shares how AI is *already* effective at generating both marketing cont...

Some of the best use cases of AI are when we think of it not as Artificial Intelligence, but "Augmented Intelligence." That's what Bryan Murphy, CEO of Smartling, is effectively doing: Using AI to enhance and super-charge their systems, as opposed to scrapping the old way and starting from scratch.  Smartling is a company that uses AI to translate languages for clients like Peloton,...

The most important, wide-reaching, and profound use case for AI might just be drug discovery. Normally it takes YEARS for scientists to develop drugs; AI can slash the timeline. Kennedy Schaal is the CEO of Rejuve Bio, a startup that’s harnessing AI for faster drug discovery. And Jasmine Smith is the CEO of Rejuve AI, its sister company, which is racing to build a data-set that’s more equitable an...

By now you've heard the question, "Can AI create art?" Mario Klingemann had a more provocative question: "Can an AI machine be an artist?" So Mario set out to do just that. He created an ingenious AI-powered system called "Botto," which is creating art as we speak. Each week, a group of humans votes on the best stuff, and then the winners are sold as NFTs. Someti...

Will AI kill the newsroom? Possibly. But today’s guest has a different goal. Winston Chen, the co-founder of Nano Media, is using AI to try and *save* the newsroom, or at least to save local newsrooms.  The fact is that over the last 20 years, local newsrooms have been gutted — most are no longer economically viable. So Winston is using AI to create tools to help revitalize the nation’s network of...

For many, the first "gateway drug" for generative AI is text-to-image, using tools like DALL-E and Midjourney to instantly flex your creative muscles. Heather Cooper is a master of AI visual art and storytelling. She has quickly become one of the most respected voices in the AI visual art/storytelling space. Her Substack, Visually AI, shares all kinds of tips and tricks on how to make be...

What should be the role of AI in education?  Cheating is an obvious concern. But can AI be used to accelerate, personalize, and even empower education?  That's the path taken by All Star Code, a non-profit education organization that teaches tech and coding skills to young men of color.  Danny Rojas is All Star Code's Executive Director.  And he has been *extremely* forward-thinking in i...

If AI becomes conscious, you could argue this is the most important inflection point in the history of humanity. So how will we know if and when that happens? Professor Grace Lindsay, a neuroscientist, recently co-authored a report -- along with a team of philosophers and fellow neuroscientists -- that suggested a framework for how we might know if AIs are conscious.   In this episode, Dr. Lindsay...

If AI becomes sentient, what are the moral, ethical, and legal implications?   This is a tricky question with many, many, *many* follow-up questions. So here to help is philosopher Jeff Sebo -- a professor at New York University; the Director of the Mind, Ethics, and Policy Program; and the author of the book "Saving Animals, Saving Ourselves."   In this sprawling conversation, we cover...

You can now use AI to create a digital clone, or "digital twin" of yourself or loved one or anyone, really. Why would you do this? What's the benefit? And why do some digital twin enthusiasts view the tech, essentially, as a way to cheat death?   There's no better expert on digital twins than Francesco Rulli, founder and CEO of Querlo, an AI company that provides services to cl...

Do you work at a job? Then you're probably involved in some kind of business operations, and there's a 99.999% chance that your job will be impacted by AI. So how do you leverage AI to make your job easier? If you're a business leader, how do you create an AI strategy for your company or department? Where should you even begin? I spoke with an expert in all of this, Rachel Woods, CE...

Think of this as an "AI case study" -- a way to make the abstractness of AI concrete by going deep on a hyper-specific example. Swupnil Sahai is a former Tesla engineer. He worked directly with Elon Musk on the AI that powers self-driving cars. He then created "Swingvision," an AI-powered tennis app, which recently won Apple's prestigious Design Award. (Other winners inclu...

Welcome to AI-Curious,  a podcast that explores the good, the bad, and the creepy of artificial intelligence.   For the debut episode, I'll introduce the conceit of the show, and then we'll speak to some Hollywood producers who are pioneers of using AI:  the cofounders of Toonstar Studios, CEO John Attanasio and COO Luisa Huang. John and Luisa bring a somewhat unique perspective of AI in...