Possible Reid Hoffman

Reid recounts the story of a milestone GPT-4 demo at Bill Gates’ house—and shares what series of achievements by AI would most impress and excite him next. 

Aria also asks Reid about the investment in technology and AI that he’d like to see be made at the domestic and international level. Lastly, Reid addresses the skepticism people have about AI—and how to best direct that skepticism to the benefit of people. 

What if artificial intelligence becomes so ubiquitous that, in the future, we won’t be able to imagine what life was like without it? 

Kevin Scott is Executive Vice President of AI and Chief Technology Officer of Microsoft. He joins the Possible Podcast to talk about AI, its impact on education, healthcare and jobs, and how AI can benefit more of us, irrespective of our geography. Kevin, Reid, and Aria discuss Kevin’s leading role in Microsoft’s OpenAI partnership, along with collective decision-making for ethical AI, how technology can empower rural communities, and what’s underlying Kevin’s humanist perspective on artificial general intelligence. Plus, Kevin reacts to some advice from Microsoft Copilot. 

Topics: 
4:13 - Hellos and intros
5:48 - The origins of the partnership between Microsoft and OpenAI 
14:34 - Kevin’s wildest hope for Microsoft/OpenAI partnership
17:32 - Making Microsoft Copilot as accessible as possible 
26:43 - How technology can revitalize communities that are being left behind
34:34 - A quick break
35:42 - A humanist approach to AI
42:00 - Copilot’s suggestions for getting Copilot into more businesses’ hands
43:20 - AI and its impact on work, productivity and labor markets 
51:10 - Framing Artificial General Intelligence (AGI)
57:19 - Rapid-fire Questions

For more info on the podcast and transcripts of all the episodes, visit https://www.possible.fm/podcast/ 

Select mentions:
Behind the Tech Podcast with Kevin Scott

Reprogramming the American Dream by Kevin Scott

Children of Memory by Adrian Tchaikovsky 

What if, in the future, everything breaks humanity's way? Possible is an award-winning, weekly podcast that sketches out the brightest version of the future—and what it will take to get there. Hosts Reid Hoffman and Aria Finger explore what’s possible with forward-thinking leaders, deep thinkers, and ambitious builders across many fields, such as technology, art, education and healthcare. These conversations center on the ways technology—and, in particular, AI—is shaping the future. In episodes, AI tools such as OpenAI’s GPT-4 and Inflection’s Pi are at work, offering informational asides, prompting guests, or demoing what they can do. Lastly, between guest episodes, Aria interviews her co-host Reid on his latest takes on what’s possible if we use technology—and our collective effort—effectively.

Reid recently created an AI version of himself—REID AI—and recorded a video Q&A to see how this digital twin might challenge him in new ways. Watch the full clip here: https://youtu.be/rgD2gmwCS10

This is Reid’s latest AI experiment, following the book he co-wrote with GPT-4 (Impromptu), the podcast he co-hosted with ChatGPT (Fireside Chatbots), and, of course, Possible, in which we use AI tools like Pi and GPT-4 to prompt guests and enrich conversations. 

Possible returns next week, but in the meantime, we thought you might like to watch and learn more about Reid’s latest experiment with AI tools.

Watch the full clip: https://youtu.be/rgD2gmwCS10

The backstory on making REID AI in Reid’s newsletter: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/long-reids-6953437305957232640/

Lastly, the video avatar is generated by Hour One, and its voice was created by 11ElevenLabs. 

Hour One - https://app.hourone.ai/home
11ElevenLabs - https://elevenlabs.io/

REID AI’s persona—the way that it formulates responses—is generated from a custom chatbot built on GPT-4 that was trained on Reid’s books, speeches, podcasts and other content that Reid has produced over the last few decades. 

This video is fully endorsed by Reid Hoffman.

The award-winning podcast Possible is back with a new season and some new changes! As always, you can tune in every Wednesday for grounded and speculative thoughts on the future from forward-thinking leaders, deep thinkers, and ambitious builders across a range of fields: tech, art, geopolitics, healthcare, climate change, education, and more. But now, the show is on year round — that means Possible won't take a break after a dozen episodes! Plus, every other week you'll hear Reid's latest takes on AI, industries, technology, and the future. As always, AI tools like Inflection’s Pi and OpenAI’s ChatGPT will debut to enhance the discussion each week. 

Join us for the new season of Possible, launching Wednesday, May 1.

What can we learn from the OpenAI saga? What role might AI play in the 2024 election? What’s the deal with the New York Times suing OpenAI? How will AI evolve our sense of human purpose? 

Reid and Aria reflect on season two of Possible and answer questions like these from a variety of sources: Listeners, Pi, ChatGPT, and each other.  

Read the transcript of this episode here.
For more info on the podcast and transcripts of all of the episodes, visit www.possible.fm/podcast.


Topics:
00:48 - Reflecting on the season
03:51 - Reid and Aria’s favorite new AI developments
06:30 - Segment: OpenAI
06:34 - What can we learn from the OpenAI saga?
10:58 - Does the nonprofit model make sense for OpenAI and beyond?
13:46 - Why was OpenAI able to get miles ahead?
16:36 - How will the lawsuits against OpenAI play out?
21:06 - Segment: Inflection 
21:09 - How and why was Pi created?
24:25 - How can we create more empathy and humanity with AI?
27:45 - What are Aria’s favorite applications for AI?
29:53 - Segment: Ethical AI
29:54 - How will AI impact our social interactions?
34:09 - How do we prepare people in the workplace for AI?
37:53 - Segment: Election and governance
37:54 - What role will AI play in the election?
43:12 - Is the government equipped to regulate AI?
46:47 - What role should AI play in national security?
49:18 - Segment: Technology and the future
49:19 - What is the latest in AI hardware?
51:49 - How will AI change our sense of purpose?

The award-winning Possible podcast is back with a new season that sketches out the brightest version of the future—and what it will take to get there. Most of all, it asks: what if, in the future, everything breaks humanity's way? Tune in for grounded and speculative takes on how technology—and, in particular, AI—is inspiring change and transforming the future. 

This season, hosts Reid Hoffman and Aria Finger are speaking with a new set of ambitious builders and deep thinkers about everything from art to geopolitics and from healthcare to education. These conversations also showcase another kind of guest: AI. Whether it's Inflection’s Pi, OpenAI’s ChatGPT or other AI tools, each episode will use AI to enhance and advance our discussion. 

Possible is produced by Wonder Media Network and hosted by Reid Hoffman and Aria Finger. Our showrunner is Shaun Young. Possible is produced by Edie Allard, Sara Schleede, and Paloma Moreno Jiménez. Jenny Kaplan is our executive producer and editor. Special thanks to Katie Sanders, Surya Yalamanchili, Saida Sapieva, Ian Alas, Greg Beato, and Ben Relles. And a big thanks to MacLean Fitzgerald and Little Monster Media Company.

What would it take for AI to become as trusted a source of information as Wikipedia? 

Katherine Maher, former CEO of the Wikimedia Foundation, joins the show to talk about the fundamental building blocks of trust behind Wikipedia. 

The use of AI will fundamentally reshape what information is distributed on the internet—and how. Reid, Aria, and Katherine talk about what creating and scaling positive spaces and community-driven ideas online would look like in the context of AI. 

Could in-text citation be a viable option for generative AI? What was Wikipedia’s response to being used as training data for AI models? Globally, the West currently appears far less optimistic about AI than the rest of the world. They discuss that cost and more.


Read the transcript of this episode here.
Read the Washington Post article referenced by Katherine here.
Read Luis Villa’s newsletter here.
Pre-order What If We Get It Right? by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson here.
For more info on the podcast and transcripts of all of the episodes, visit www.possible.fm/podcast.


Topics:
03:57 - Hellos and intros
06:00 - AI and governance
12:25 - How to make trust and neutrality possible in AI
15:30 - The future of Wikipedia and AI
19:28 - What can AI companies learn from Wikipedia’s model?
21:29 - Should LLMs use citations?
25:02 - The impact of the internet on trust
28:48 - How to regain trust in society
34:50 - The importance of “the loyal opposition”
36:01 - Wikipedia didn’t happen at scale
38:37 - How to make the internet a positive place for dissent
43:01 - Wikipedia and AI training
47:17 - Rapidfire questions

The award-winning Possible podcast is back with a new season that sketches out the brightest version of the future—and what it will take to get there. Most of all, it asks: what if, in the future, everything breaks humanity's way? Tune in for grounded and speculative takes on how technology—and, in particular, AI—is inspiring change and transforming the future. 

This season, hosts Reid Hoffman and Aria Finger are speaking with a new set of ambitious builders and deep thinkers about everything from art to geopolitics and from healthcare to education. These conversations also showcase another kind of guest: AI. Whether it's Inflection’s Pi, OpenAI’s ChatGPT or other AI tools, each episode will use AI to enhance and advance our discussion. 

Possible is produced by Wonder Media Network and hosted by Reid Hoffman and Aria Finger. Our showrunner is Shaun Young. Possible is produced by Edie Allard, Sara Schleede, and Paloma Moreno Jiménez. Jenny Kaplan is our executive producer and editor. Special thanks to Katie Sanders, Surya Yalamanchili, Saida Sapieva, Ian Alas, Greg Beato, and Ben Relles. And a big thanks to Katherine Farrell, Jenny O'Donoghue, and Little Monster Media Company.