The Exchanges

Q Yeah, it's true. Or, or, or, or you or me as a junior intern there, and now I'm not gonna, it's not as important still, but, but it's, like, a great group. Like, what was unique about that culture? What, what was your, and your explanation in your mind for what brought those people together? What'd you, what'd you have in common?

A Well, it was a set of different things. Um, you know, I got, uh, when Peter and Max Uh, founded PayPal. Um, each of Peter and Max said, okay, who's my closest friend who understands startups? Let's get them on the board. So for Max, it was Scott Bannister. For Peter, it was me. And so I was like at the very beginning when the two of them founded the company, joined the board, and then later joined the company as an executive. And part of the thing that they did masterfully was getting people who are just intense learners and tense, you know, like risk takers and agents and not interviewing of You know, have you had 20 years of experience previously doing this, but are you really, really thinking and working hard at doing this, this problem being technical, et cetera. And so that's the kind of the set of the culture. And there were just tons of things that I learned, um, you know, from Peter, from Elon, from Max, from, you know, David, there were, you know, things I learned from each of them. And I thought that was that kind of intensity of learning in terms of how we were doing things was simply amazing.

AI assessment note: “getting people who are just intense learners and tense, you know, like risk takers”

Q So it's more substance-based and experience-based, of course, what I've seen Peter is very focused on. Do you think a lot of them are still learning at a really high pace today? Do you think it's harder to do that when you've been doing these things for 20 years differently?

A Uh, I would generally say so. I mean, I think one of the things that makes great founders, entrepreneurs, and investors is kind of an infinite learning curve and a commitment to it. Um, and so, you know, it's part of the reason why, like, for example, you know, uh, the vast majority of us are all very focused on AI these days because of that same thing is like, and you have to be Learning new things to do it. You can't say, oh, the tech patterns of 10 years ago, I'm just gonna, you know, roll over and kind of start applying them now. That's lunacy. I mean, part of what's so exciting about what you and I and they do in technology is you have to reinvent the game every three to five years, and that reinvention of the game is that you have to have this learning cycle in order to do it.

AI assessment note: “one of the things that makes great founders, entrepreneurs, and investors is kind of an infinite learning curve”

Q No, it's very interesting. So, so what could possibly go right with our AI future? And we're all having to learn, again, there's, everything's new in the last three or four years about what's possible. First of all, what are the best arguments for AI optimism? There's a lot of people who are afraid right now. Like, what makes you so optimistic?

A So part of the reason I wrote Superagency is because, as you know, you and I both experienced, the dialogue is like, AI is coming for humanity, AI is coming for our jobs, AI is coming for our data, you know, and it's all this kind of fear and paranoia, which is a normal human response, But an irrational one. And so it was like, no, no, the way we get to our amazing future, which we have, by the way, the dialogue around AI is very similar to the dialogue around the printing press, you know, et cetera. It's like, no, no, we build it towards a better future, and you don't get the futures you want by avoiding the futures you don't want. You have a, a vision of what you're going for. Now, as you and I know, we are line of sight from a medical assistant that's 24 seven on every smartphone for every person who has a smartphone. That's huge, right? Lots of people do not have easy access to doctors, easy access to clinics, easy access to emergency rooms. Big, big deal. And even in, you know, countries where you have single payer systems, imagine when you had a medical assistant that was on the phone that said, oh, no, no, I'm going to jump the queue. You're going to be in there tomorrow morning. This is really important. Or no, no, this is fine. Let me help you with it. And you can check in six weeks later. Medical assistant. Tutor. Legal assistant. I mean, just all of these ways of ele…

AI assessment note: “we are line of sight from a medical assistant that's 24 seven”

Q I love it. I love it. We're doing it. We're doing a lot of AI applied to bio too. It seems like just one of like the purely good things for the world for us to understand this stuff and save lives. I guess you've been doing interviews lately with your AI twin. Can you tell us a little bit about this? What's that all about?

A Well, so, you know, similar, I think in the ways that we think about things, um, uh, It's like every technology, there's a way that you can apply it well, as well as always applying it badly, and part of what we're trying to do as techno-optimists say, how do we shape it so it's applied well? So you have this technology that most people call deep fake, and deep fake is kind of like, boy, that just sounds like it's bad. So I was like, all right, well, let's start experimenting with it and see how it can work in better ways, and literally, like, my staff was like, oh, no, everyone's gonna hate this, you know, it's gonna seem like You know, you're, you're creating a deep fake, et cetera, et cetera. And I'm like, I am, but it's of myself, and it's transparent. And, uh, I was like, well, let's just make it as a conversation. Like, the very first one is, well, I'll have a conversation with it. Like, well, we'll just do that and see where it goes. I mean, it's literally just raw experimentation.

AI assessment note: “I am, but it's of myself, and it's transparent.”

Q is something I, I'm very optimistic on actually lowering costs for everyone. It's just like obviously positive sum. But of course, we're gonna have attacks like this. In this case, it's a core stronghold in the California. What do we do against these? Like, there's gonna be coming from both sides. Do we have a responsibility to fight back on our own side when they're, when they're crazy like this?

A Well, actually, I mean, look, I try to fight against these kinds of, you look, I, I think it's a very good thing that, that there are institutions that are trying to advocate on behalf of, call it, middle-class American workers, including unions. But unions can get it wrong. I'm frequently on Whatever side I'm on fighting back against it, whether it's autonomous vehicles, whether it's autonomous construction, because that is, in fact, the future. And an abundance, I'm sure you love it as well, is exactly right. And it's, it is funny to sometimes talk to, you know, occasional Democrat who goes, I'm for abundance. You understand that this is a change in regulatory posture, part of which there's a bunch of people on both parties who have incremented that regulatory structure. Yeah. So it's like, no, no, let's, We, we have to factor back the regulatory structure in order to enable it. And like, for example, if we're not looking for automation, that's how we get GDP growth. That's how we get prosperity. Construction. Awesome. Uh, transport. Awesome.

AI assessment note: “I'm frequently on Whatever side I'm on fighting back against it”

Q of also have to say, well, the reason Jews must be doing better, they must be oppressors because it's, it's, it's, it's, so if you look at it, like, 19 and twenty-five-year-olds who've gone through the system, who have these frameworks, the majority of them have problems with Jews right now, which is terrifying to me. Like, what do we do to fix this? How do you think about it?

A So, um, well, one, I mean, I think part of the reason why, um, the Jewish minorities always tend to be very successful is a high focus on education. I think that's a really good thing. You know, say, hey, how do we get ahead? By studying, by being good. We want that everywhere, right? Not just in, In, in kind of Jewish culture. I do think that the notion I, I find, and look, I, um, gone and argued against a lot of, um, kind of lefties who are like saying, look, the only, like, for example, they say, you know, Israel is committing genocide against Palestine. You're like, no, it's not. Genocide is something different. You could say there's civilian casualties in some ways that the war, war is being promulgated. That's, that's, that's really suboptimal.

AI assessment note: “I think part of the reason why, um, the Jewish minorities always tend to be”