The AI in Business Podcast

Vivek Wadhwa began as a software entrepreneur and now is a well-known speaker, writer, and Vice President of Academics and Innovation at Singularity University. In this interview, Mr. Wadhwa shares his heartfelt predictions about what he sees as the complete overhaul of healthcare and education in the coming decades ahead - and the widespread benefits of emerging technology for what he sees as a healthier and more informed future generation.

Dr. Steve Fuller is philosopher and professor at the University of Warwick in the UK. After writing "Humanity 2.0" in 2011, Steve has received increasing attention for his ethical perspective on human enhancement and the transhuman transition. In this interview, Dr. Fuller covers covers what he considers to be the most important present considerations of transhumanism - namely - the potential economic impacts (and gross inequality) of enhancing humanity. Dr. Fuller shares why he considers these issues as the best path forward for bringing human enhancement concerns to modern politics.

Juan Enriquez gave a TED talk in 2009 called "The next species of human," and video went viral - and is now one of the most popular futurist talks in TED history. In addition to previously founding the Life Sciences Project at the Harvard Business School, Juan is now managing partner in Excell Venture Management in Boston, MA. In this interview we discuss Juan's thoughts about the most relevant technologies that might "tinker with what's human," and which such technologies might be the first to require serious ethical consideration from humanity as a whole, in the public and private sectors.

Decades ago, Cornell's Dr. Joe Halpern wrote a book called "Reasoning with Uncertainty." In this interview, we discuss alternative approaches to handling large-scale uncertainty - as might be applied to broad concerns such as environmental policy, or the management of hard-to-predict emerging technologies. Through thought experiments and some philosophical exploration, Prof. Halpern explains some potential alternatives to "probabilities," and opens up the door to other, potentially more robust methods of managing large, uncertain, important questions for humanity's future.

Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor became remarkably well-known following her TED talk called "My stroke of insight," where she explained her experience of having a stroke from her perspective… that is to say: perspective of a neuroscientist. Since then Jill has been featured on Oprah, and her book (with the same title as her TED talk) is available in over 30 languages worldwide. In this interview, Dr. Taylor explains her perspective on the place and purpose of the left and right hemispheres, and how an understanding of neuroanatomy might help us make sense of our own desires / drives, and help us lead a more fulfilling or productive life.

Dr. John MacCormick is the author of the book "Nine Algorithms That Changed the Future: The Ingenious Ideas That Drive Today's Computers," and in this interview, he shares some of the fundamental algorithms that support modern artificial intelligence, and his optimistic views on the future of AI.

Dr. Gregory Hickok, a cognitive neuroscience professor at UC Irvine and author focused on brain circuits related to speech, shares fascinating insights on modeling the human brain. He discusses the progress in computational neuroanatomy and its distinctions from computational neuroscience. Greg highlights the potential of brain-inspired AI and neuroprosthetics, suggesting impressive future applications like overcoming speech loss. However, he believes deciphering the brain’s complexities will take generations, keeping its deepest secrets elusive for now.

Dr. Nils J. Nilsson, a retired Stanford computer science professor and pioneer in AI from the 1950s, shares captivating insights into the evolution of artificial intelligence. He discusses the Turing Test and the early advancements of the 50s and 60s, before diving into the setbacks of the AI Winter and the resurgence of expert systems and neural networks. Nils also warns about automation's impact on employment, highlights the risks of autonomous weapons, and advocates for proactive policy discussions to address these challenges.

Zoltan Istvan doesn't believe that issues of life extension, genetic modification, and neural prosthetics are the problems for the president in the year 220, but that they're among the most important considerations of the future of America, and of human life in general. In this interview, I ask Zoltan what kinds of technology and health initiatives he'd get behind as a president, as well as his own thoughts as to how concerns of merging technology might be brought to the forefront of American awareness (without a disaster, that is).

Gray Scott's mission is to bring the concerns of the future to the public - and with recent coverage in Psychology Today, New York Post, and the World Future Society, he's picking up steam. In this interview, Gray and I discuss the most important societal shifts that he believes are opening up our generation and culture to take issues like life extension and brain-machine interface. We discuss how modern skepticism of religious dogma plays a role in the social shift towards transhumanism.