Possible Reid Hoffman

What does AI literacy mean for students and their teachers? Code.org Chief Academic Officer Pat Yongpradit—himself a former middle school computer science teacher—joins Reid and Aria for the first-ever live-taping of Possible, recorded at the ASU+GSV Summit in San Diego. 

In this episode, they discuss why school-wide bans on AI are a terrible idea and what “always be learning” refers to in an age of AI. Plus, Pat unveils, for the first time publicly, Code.org’s newest tool for teachers: an AI assistant that helps computer science teachers grade assignments. 

Special thanks to Will Cullen, Colin Faul, Bella Willis, Braeden Rutherford, Whitney Kim, Samantha Urban Tarrant, Hadi Partovi, Debra Quazzo and Little Monster Media Company.

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

Topics: 
2:19 - Hellos and intros
2:50 - Pat’s social mission video game homework 
4:34 - Pat’s origins with teaching and computer science
6:33 - Making Microsoft Copilot as accessible as possible Code.org’s mission 
8:08 - Learning concept tools for real world applications for 
9:45 - What do young people need to know about AI literacy work
11:58 - What Pat is excited about with generative AI and the future 
13:40 - What are the guardrails for the classroom with AI
16:45 - How does AI enhance teaching and learning
21:31 - Break 
22:04 - Using Devin as a lens into the future 
24:09 - Multidisciplinary ethics around coding 
28:45 - What project would Aria do for Do Something through the lens of AI 
34:55 - What you are most worried about when it comes to AI and education 
39:09 - Code.org secret sauce and future 
41:10 - Rapid-fire questions
 

Select mentions: 
Cointelligence by Ethan Mollick

TeachAI 

Stanford Accelerator for Learning

Amazon Echo skit from Saturday Night Live

Demo of the AI engineer Devin

Bologna Business School Commencement Speech

ASU+GSV Summit and AIR Show

Possible is an award-winning podcast 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. Hosted by Reid Hoffman and Aria Finger, each episode features an interview with an ambitious builder or deep thinker on a topic, 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 about what humanity could possibly get right if we leverage technology—and our collective effort—effectively.

What should we keep in mind as we venture into this new AI era? Reid Hoffman delivers a speech, entitled Humanity’s Hegelian Golden Braid, to address this question. The speech offers six guiding maxims related to AI, humanity, and technology—and weaves through Hegel and Hofstadter, cathedrals and griffins, T.S. Elliot and Hyman Minsky, and more.

This speech was originally given by Reid Hoffman in English on May 24, 2024 after accepting an honorary doctorate from the University of Perugia. It’s also been translated and delivered by REID AI (an AI version of Reid Hoffman) in nine different languages. For videos of those translated speeches delivered by REID AI, a transcript of the speech in English, and more, please visit: https://www.reidhoffman.org/perugia-speech.

In this episode, Aria asks Reid about the roles and responsibilities of technology journalists, along with his thoughts on the TikTok ban (recorded before President Biden signed the TikTok Ban bill into law). 

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

Alongside this week’s riff from Reid on tech journalism and last week’s episode with Kara Swisher, we’re bringing you a conversation between Reid and Kara that originally dropped as a March 2023 episode of “On with Kara Swisher.” This duo has known each other since the 90s, when Reid was fresh off the sale of PayPal and before he co-founded LinkedIn. On this episode, they discuss Reid’s donations to Biden and other Democrats, how his political views have impacted his friendships with Peter Thiel and Elon Musk, and why he is so bullish on AI.

What will the media landscape look like as tech companies, as opposed to traditional media, own increasingly more ink? And who better to offer an optimistic take on the news industry’s future than…Kara Swisher?! 

Reid and Aria speak with the famous—and famously direct—tech journalist, author, and podcast host about the roles and responsibilities of journalists covering rapidly developing innovations, along with those of the technologists driving advancements. They cover the OpenAI/New York Times lawsuit, disinformation, TikTok legislation, and AI’s potential to improve healthcare and climate outcomes. Plus, Kara makes the case that today’s content creators benefit from staying relatively small vs. striving for scale. 

Topics:
3:30 - Hellos and intros
3:54 - Technology that makes Kara optimistic
6:40 - Technology to solve climate change
8:43 - Why health-tech and climate tech inspire optimism
10:09 - State of the media landscape
15:34 - Can smaller-scale media work?
16:56 - Pi weighs in on Patrick Soon-Shiong
19:33 - How will AI impact media misinformation
22:27 - Impact of AI in politics
27:52 - Kara’s latest book
30:36 - Is AI training “stealing”?
37:28 - TikTok ban
42:51 - A question for Reid: Is TikTok worth buying?
45:43 - How to shape capitalism
51:30 - Rapid-fire questions

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

Select mentions:
Burn Book by Kara Swisher 

Platformer News founder Casey Newton 

Letters from an American by Heather Cox Richardson 

Barbie, directed by Greta Gerwig

Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present by Ruth Ben-Ghiat

Anchor Oyster Bar

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 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. 

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