Baratunde Thurston wants us to live well with machines — not for us live under them, nor to be their almighty overlords.
Baratunde is a technologist, a comedian, and an Emmy-nominated storyteller who explores interdependence. He gets spicy in this episode. The host of Life With Machines explores how he uses AI — without succumbing to its literal mediocrity — and why he feels he must use AI, because otherwise he’s ceding the future to big tech. He also digs into the compromises made in service of building AGI, why strongmen are actually weak, and why CEOs need to stop bending the knee and learn how collective power and strength actually work.
But he doesn't just critique—he offers builders a concrete path forward for how we can build a better future, because:
"If we build these systems in a good way, there'll be more for everybody, more freedom for everybody and more money for everybody. I do believe that that is possible, but if we do this the wrong way, most of us are gonna suffer and a handful will enjoy their riches in a very secure compound."
This episode is a banger. You will be inspired to take action!
Chapters:
02:00 “I don't want to live under machines… I also don't want to be like master of the machine”
06:25 Creating good goals for AI systems and products
09:00 “Nothing about us without us” – principles of community-based action
11:10 How Baratunde stays creative and avoids mediocrity when using AI
14:10 Building BLAIR, Baratunde’s AI “co-host” and “producer” on Life With Machines
16:50 “You know nothing, John Snow.” Generative AI systems are not knowledge repositories!
20:00 Practice what you preach: on Mustafa Suleyman (Microsoft AI CEO) and his warning against building “Seemingly Conscious AI”
24:00 The AI funding shell game
25:00 Racing to AGI and the compromises (trust & safety, copyright, etc…) along the way
28:30 How Baratunde reconciles his unease with his own heavy use of AI
31:44 “Comedy will not save us; we will save us.” On the role of comedy vs. authority / authoritarians
36:00 Bending the knee: why Baratunde says tech CEOs need to learn how collective power works
38:00 What builders — what we! — can do (today!) to exercise our power about how these systems will be built
40:00 “If we build these systems in a good way, there’ll be more for everybody…”
If you don’t already get Future Around & Find Out emails, go ahead:
Thanks — and please share your feedback on this first episode to bear the new name!
~ Dan