Alexis Ohanian on the future of online and offline communities
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 communities in the age of AI. They hear from Alexis on his recent bid for U.S. TikTok, the startups and women’s sports ventures he’s backing through his VC firm Seven Seven Six, and his approach to raising AI-forward daughters with his wife, tennis legend Serena Williams.
For more info on the podcast and transcripts of all the episodes, visit https://www.possible.fm/podcast/
Topics:
03:03 - Hellos and intros
03:24 - Being a “Daddy Caddy” for Olympia
04:36 - Inspiration behind 776
08:26 - Making the internet “fun” again
12:25 - Internet culture vs. the platform
17:49 - Bid for Tiktok
21:47 - AI and online communities
27:01 - AI in women’s sports
30:16 - Hardware vs. software
31:46 - Midroll
32:00 - Kids, parenting, and learning in the age of AI
34:55 - Physical products in a digital world
40:46 - Tech optimism
41:56 - Alexis’s collectibles
44:29 - Rapid-fire questions
Select mentions:
Seven Seven Six
Teenage Engineering
Art For Kids Hub
Synthesis Tutor
Monumental Labs
Mantel
Unreasonable Hospitality
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. Each episode seeks to enhance and advance our discussion about what humanity could possibly get right if we leverage technology—and our collective effort—effectively.
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53:53
Reid riffs on PBCs, jobs and automation, and AI access for kids
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 now to prepare for an AI future, and whether AI-intensive fields are worth the bet.
For more info on the podcast and transcripts of all the episodes, visit https://www.possible.fm/podcast/
Select mentions:
Public Benefit Corporation
Everyone Is Cheating Their Way Through College by James D. Walsh
Something Alarming Is Happening to the Job Market by Derek Thompson
Shopify memo
Duolingo memo
Ethan Mollick
Our Possible episode with Ethan Mollick
Opportunity at Work
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18:31
Jane Goodall on Hope, AI, and the Natural World
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 program, Roots & Shoots. Plus, the Jane Goodall institute shared audio from a cutting edge acoustic array that helped them discover a brand new species in Gombe National Park in Tanzania! Jane reflected on her legacy and shared stories about bridging unlikely divides, defying the scientific community early in her career, young people opening their eyes to the natural world for the first time, and so much more.
Thank you to the incredible team at the Jane Goodall Institute and WildMon (L. Pintea, B. Wallauer, K. Harmon, M. Campos, Gabriel Leite, Tomaz Melo, Guilherme Melo, D. A. Collins, D. C. Mjungu) that, with funding from Google, utilized an acoustic array to discover brand new species in Gombe National Park, Tanzania, including Thomas’s Dwarf Galago (Galagoides thomasi).
For more info on the podcast and transcripts of all the episodes, visit https://www.possible.fm/podcast/
Topics:
03:38 - Hellos and intros
03:45 - “Name that baby” game
05:34 - How Jane has used technology in her work
09:13 - Discovering a new species with an acoustic array
11:57 - How AI can help conservation
16:55 - AI as an animal translator
19:58 - Essential lesson for research
22:30 - Similarities between humans and chimpanzees
26:42 - Bridging divides between unlikely groups
30:32 - “We must either redefine man, redefine tool, or…”
32:20 - Government funding cut from Jane Goodall Institute
36:26 - Youth program Roots and Shoots
39:57 - How to maintain hope
42:53 - What we can learn from kids
44:33 - Global impact of the Roots and Shoots program
46:18 - Jane’s ideal AI tool
48:22 - Jane asks Reid: Can AI become sentient?
51:27 - AI’s impact on the brain
54:55 - Rapid-fire Questions
Select mentions:
APOPO’s “Amazing Rats” | How It Works
Regeneration by Paul Hawken
TACARE Program
Roots & Shoots
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. Each episode seeks to enhance and advance our discussion about what humanity could possibly get right if we leverage technology—and our collective effort—effectively.
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59:17
Reid riffs on antitrust, AI coworkers, and Chinese manufacturing
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 transcripts of all the episodes, visit https://www.possible.fm/podcast/
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22:15
Derek Thompson on AI, abundance, and human progress
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 scarcity mindset is holding American society back. They cover how AI can revolutionize scientific discovery; what Operation Warp Speed got right; and why real progress depends on bold policy, not just better technology. Plus, Reid joins Derek in the hotseat for some “Too Much, Too Little, or Just Right?”—a game co-created with ChatGPT to discuss ideas in Derek’s new best-selling book, Abundance.
For more info on the podcast and transcripts of all the episodes, visit https://www.possible.fm/podcast/
Select mentions:
Abundance by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson
“The Anti-Social Century”
Every Cure co-founder Dr. David Fajgenbaum
Topics:
1:06 – Episode introduction
2:34 – What year would Derek choose to be born and why?
7:14 – What can AI do as a co-author that Ezra Klein can't, and what are Ezra's irreplaceable strengths?
9:08 – AI's impact on the future of work — what AI can and can't do — and what the enduring role of humans will be.
12:00 – The situation with current tariffs, and the potential fixes or silver linings.
14:28 – Operation Warp Speed and other examples of abundance in the U.S. and beyond.
19:39 – What specific government policies could effectively leverage AI to speed up the creation of abundance?
22:40 – Midroll
22:49 – Derek and Reid play a fun game based on Abundance: “Too much, too little, or just right?”
30:46 – What's needed to better incentivize scientific progress and foster innovation?
39:22 – How could society and our relationship with technology be reframed to combat the loneliness epidemic?
45:08 – Derek identifies specific policies that currently hinder abundance and suggests new ones that could promote it.
49:45 – Rapid-fire Questions
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. Each episode seeks to enhance and advance our discussion about what humanity could possibly get right if we leverage technology—and our collective effort—effectively.
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.
Colombia