Possible

On Part II of last week’s Live Riff, co-hosted with Village Global, Reid fields audience member questions about scale product-market fit, license modeling, data sensitivities, and the future of customer service, along with positive use cases for deepfake technology and the making of Reid AI, his digital twin. He also tells a story from his PayPal days, when Peter Thiel gave him five days to come u...

What’s the deal with hyperscalers’ recent string of acquisitions betting big on AI talent? When will business schools start requiring classes on managing agents? And how is—and isn’t—AI changing the path to scale and the future of work? Aria asks Reid about all of this and more in a special two-part Riff, recorded for a live audience of AI leaders and founders in New York City in partnership with...

Crypto often feels like a microcosm of the broader government–tech relationship. On one extreme, you have true believers who see blockchain as the next frontier of economic empowerment and radical transparency. On the other, skeptics who point to ransomware attacks, illicit finance, and the flipside of anonymity—and call for an outright ban. This week on Possible, Reid and Aria talk crypto –– both...

What if AI helped people develop and deepen their existing expertise, and better outfitted them for the jobs of the future? This week, Reid and Aria are joined by one of the world’s leading labor economists, David Autor, Ford Professor of Economics at MIT and co-director of its Work of the Future Task Force. He is also a Visiting Fellow in the Google Technology and Society Program. David’s landmar...

Aria and Reid dive into the recent flurry of multibillion-dollar AI acquisitions—from OpenAI’s $3B Windsurf deal to Meta’s ~$15B stake in Scale AI—and what they reveal about how companies are racing to refactor for an AI-first future. Are acquihires overtaking acquisitions as the new strategic advantage? And how are companies balancing workforce shifts with long-term innovation? Plus, a look at th...

What happens when we take numbers seriously—not just at face value, but in terms of their actual impact on our lives? This week, Reid and Aria are joined by UK-based mathematician and media personality Hannah Fry to explore this deceptively simple question. From cancer diagnoses to dating apps, Hannah makes the case that understanding the math behind our decisions—and the "game" we're really playi...

This episode has been re-uploaded to correct an error. If you are a subscriber and/or downloaded it on its release, consider deleting and redownloading it to hear the corrected audio. We apologize for the inconvenience.   On this week's Riffs, Reid and Aria unpack last week’s conversation with Yuval Noah Harari, discussing AI's rapid advancements, its potential impacts on humanity, and the meaning...

What will it take to create AI that is as trustworthy, if not more trustworthy than humans?  This week, Reid and Aria sit down with Yuval Noah Harari, historian, philosopher, and best-selling author of several books including Nexus, Sapiens and Homo Deus. When it comes to outlook on AI, Yuval, Reid, and Aria agree on the importance of building both human trust in AI and AI that is genuinely truth-...

On this week’s Riff, Reid reacts to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s suggestion that AIs can help address the loneliness epidemic and function as friends. He and Aria discuss why AIs can be great companions but not great friends, along with how to protect against agent misuse and deception.  For more info on the podcast and transcripts of all the episodes, visit https://www.possible.fm/podcast/ 

How do we build products and platforms that support a healthy, prosperous future? What will it take to “make the internet fun again?” Should kids be using AI? This week, serial entrepreneur and investor Alexis Ohanian—who co-founded Reddit two decades ago and is currently working to reinvent the social news aggregator Digg—joins Reid and Aria to talk about (re)building online and offline communiti...

Reid breaks down OpenAI’s shift to a public benefit corporation—what it really means, why it matters, and why some critics are missing the point. Aria asks whether all frontier AI companies should follow suit. Reid and Aria discuss how educators can navigate the “messy middle” of AI in the classroom. They also dig into the future of assessment, what students (and job seekers) should be learning no...

What would it look like to keep all living creatures in the loop on the development of new technology? Reid sat down for a wide-ranging solo discussion with Jane Goodall on that very subject – and more. They talked about how to maintain hope and focus on local impact in today’s often chaotic world, how technology – and AI in particular – might be helpful for conservation, and Jane’s global youth p...

Reid weighs in on the U.S. government’s latest antitrust action against Google and what it could mean for competition, innovation, and America’s tech edge. Aria also asks about the rise of Chinese electric vehicles and why BYD might be “the Tesla of tomorrow;” the geopolitical costs of tariffs; and whether saying “please” and “thank you” to ChatGPT is worth it.   For more info on the podcast and t...

Why can the United States government help make a vaccine in a year but not build a high-speed train in a reasonable timeframe? What if our biggest problems—affordable housing shortages, energy limits, and scientific slowdowns—aren’t inevitable, but chosen? This week, Reid and Aria sit down with Derek Thompson—staff writer at The Atlantic and host of the podcast Plain English—to explore how a scarc...

After Tobi Lütke, the CEO of Shopify, put out a memo stating all his employees should be expected to use AI every day, Reid offers his thoughts on AI in the workplace. He also talks about the interplay between AI, social media, mis/disinformation, and the importance of shaping technology instead of restricting technology. Plus, Reid speculates on how AI can be just as groundbreaking in the world o...

How can AI help us understand and master deeply complex systems—from the game Go, which has 10 to the power 170 possible positions a player could pursue, or proteins, which, on average, can fold in 10 to the power 300 possible ways? This week, Reid and Aria are joined by Demis Hassabis. Demis is a British artificial intelligence researcher, co-founder, and CEO of the AI company, DeepMind. Under hi...

In the wake of Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg’s accidental inclusion in senior government officials’ Signal group chat discussing war plans, Reid weighs in on how the U.S. government should—and shouldn’t—use encrypted messaging apps. He and Aria also discuss AI-powered breakthroughs in cancer detection and medical diagnostics, along with NVIDIA’s newly announced Superchip and OpenAI’s l...

The evolution of AI is changing the way we interact with the physical world, not just in how we use this technology, but also where and how we access it. In this episode, Reid and Aria sit down with Meta’s Chief Technology Officer, Andrew “Boz” Bosworth, who is pioneering wearables for the company. Boz’s journey in the tech sector has taken him from working on Microsoft Visio to founding Reality L...

It's been two years since the Possible podcast began, so we’re taking a moment to return to the beginning: our series launch episode with Trevor Noah. First, Aria and Reid sit down to revisit aspects of the original conversation, exploring just how much has changed in the AI space since Possible launched. Then, you’ll hear the Webby-award-winning episode in full. For more info on the podcast and t...

Is code going to be 100% AI-generated a year from now? Reid shares where he diverges from Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei's recent prediction about the future of programming. Plus, he and Aria discuss “vibe revenue,” along with how America can maintain soft power through software.   For more info on the podcast and transcripts of all the episodes, visit https://www.possible.fm/podcast/ 

Loneliness is a public health crisis affecting people of all ages. This week on Possible, Reid and Aria sit down with someone using AI to bridge generational gaps and combat the loneliness epidemic. Dana Griffin is co-founder and CEO of Eldera, a global platform using AI to foster intergenerational connections. Raised by her grandparents and mentored by older adults throughout her life, Dana is on...

Reid reacts to the news of HP acquiring Humane Ai Pin and weighs in on the future of wearable tech, quantum, and copyright law. Plus, AI whiz Parth Patil (formerly Clubhouse’s first data scientist) joins the show to discuss why he’s excited about OpenAI’s Deep Research tool, “vibe coding,” and coding copilots. For more info on the podcast and transcripts of all the episodes, visit https://www.poss...

How does the rise of AI impact our sense of what’s true? How can humans maintain a degree of individual privacy and unlock the benefits of AI while mitigating potential harms? In this episode, Reid and Aria sit down with data privacy pioneer Latanya Sweeney, Professor of Government and Technology at Harvard; former Chief Technology Officer at the U.S. Federal Trade Commission; and founder of Harva...

Following last week’s chat with former diplomat and author Anja Manuel, Reid talks about the potential benefits of an FDA for AI, the current status of the global race for artificial intelligence, and predicting what’s to come from American AI companies.  For more info on the podcast and transcripts of all the episodes, visit https://www.possible.fm/podcast/ 

Love, dating, and AI — what could go wrong? Or right? In this Valentine’s Day special, Rana el Kaliouby and a series of expert guests explore how AI is reshaping romance. First, Will Wu, Chief Technology Officer at Match Group, gives us a peek at how AI is already at work in apps like Tinder and Hinge, helping users choose their best profile pictures and refining match recommendations. Next, the t...