AI-Curious with Jeff Wilser

Hosted by Jeff Wilser

TechnologyInterviews guests

Website RSS feed

Episodes

151

Latest episode

Oct 2026

Language

EN-US

About the show

Every week, Jeff Wilser sits down with the people building, breaking, and reckoning with AI — from the CEO of Upwork to the pioneer who coined "AGI" to an AI social network where bots wrote manifestos and had existential crises. Wilser is the author of eight books, AI keynote speaker, and the kind of interviewer who'd rather find the story no one's telling than rehash the headline everyone's read. Named by Inc. Magazine as one of the best ways to get AI-savvy. Included in UC Berkeley's data science curriculum.

Listen to episodes

60 recent

October 8, 2026Episode 3621 min

The AI Productivity Paradox, w/ Andrey Khusid, Nasrin Mostafazadeh & Imad Riachi

Why are so many people getting faster with AI, while their companies still move at the same speed? In this episode of AI-Curious, we bring you a live panel conversation from HumanX Amsterdam with Andrey Khusid of Miro, Nasrin Mostafazadeh of Verneek, and Imad Riachi of Honu. Together, we explore one of the biggest questions in enterprise AI: what has to change for humans and AI to work as a true team across an entire organization? We discuss the gap between individual AI productivity and company-wide transformation. Many employees now have their own chatbots, agents, and AI workflows, but that does not automatically mean the business moves faster. The panel looks at why AI adoption often stalls at the organizational level, and why companies may need to redesign workflows, teams, accountability, and decision-making instead of simply giving everyone access to new tools. Andrey shares how Miro uses AI internally through daily briefs, shared data surfaces, and a digital twin of the company, helping teams operate from the same source of truth. Nasrin explains why enterprise AI should begin with business strategy, not AI strategy, and how Verneek helps retailers and consumer brands use AI to improve merchandising, planning, and operational decisions. Imad brings a neuroscience and systems perspective, warning that we often mistake eloquence for intelligence and that overreliance on fluent AI systems can quietly erode human expertise. We also explore augmented intelligence, organizational intelligence, AI governance, decision traceability, tacit knowledge, accountability, and why AI should not just make today’s work cheaper, but help companies build a more interesting tomorrow. Guests Andrey Khusid — Co-founder and CEO, Miro Nasrin Mostafazadeh — Co-founder and CEO, Verneek Imad Riachi — Founder and CEO, Honu Follow AI-Curious on your favorite podcast platform: Apple Podcasts Spotify YouTube All Other Platforms For anyone interested in Jeff’s AI Workshops for their company: Reach out directly at jeff@jeffwilser.com

October 1, 2026Episode 3522 min

Context Is King for AI Agents, w/ Bianca Anghelina and Stefan Ostwald

What if the biggest limitation of AI agents is not intelligence, but context? In this episode of AI-Curious, we bring you a live panel conversation from HumanX Amsterdam with Bianca Anghelina of Aily Labs and Stefan Ostwald of Parloa. We explore why “context is king” in the age of AI agents, and why even the most powerful models can struggle inside companies if they do not understand how the business actually works. Bianca and Stefan both work with AI agents inside large enterprises, where success depends on more than model performance. We talk about what context really means in practice: internal business knowledge, company strategy, user history, market conditions, regulations, policies, permissions, governance, and the processes that shape how work actually gets done. We also discuss why enterprise AI deployment is much harder than simply giving employees a chatbot. The panel gets into APIs, access management, semantic layers, real-time context, cost efficiency, token budgets, and the importance of measuring AI ROI instead of only measuring AI spend. Bianca shares how Aily Labs embeds business context into decision-intelligence systems for Fortune 500 companies, while Stefan explains how Parloa helps enterprises deploy AI agents for customer communication. Finally, we explore what leaders can do to make AI adoption stick. From giving CEOs a “super agent,” to building safe AI playgrounds, to containerizing agents so they cannot run loose across a company’s systems, this conversation offers a practical look at how large organizations can experiment with AI agents without losing control. Guests: Bianca Anghelina — Founder, Aily Labs Stefan Ostwald — Co-founder, Parloa Follow AI-Curious on your favorite podcast platform: Apple Podcasts Spotify YouTube All Other Platforms For anyone interested in Jeff’s AI Workshops for their company: Reach out directly at jeff@jeffwilser.com

September 17, 2026Episode 3443 min

The AI Robot Already Working in Grocery Stores, w/ Simbe’s Ben Bond

What happens when AI stops living only on screens and starts measuring the physical world? In this episode of AI-Curious, we talk with Ben Bond of Simbe about physical AI, retail robotics, and how autonomous robots are already helping stores understand what is actually happening on their shelves. Simbe is focused on store intelligence through its shelf-scanning robot, Tally, a six-foot autonomous sensing robot used by major retailers across grocery, club, home improvement, and other high-volume retail environments. We explore how Tally moves through stores, detects missing products, checks shelf conditions, reads prices, and gives retailers a clearer picture of what is happening in the aisles. We also discuss why the physical world is still surprisingly under-measured. Online retailers have had decades of analytics, SEO, merchandising tools, and digital optimization, but brick-and-mortar stores have often relied on human observation, spot checks, and labor-intensive manual audits. Ben explains how physical AI can create a new data layer for stores, helping retailers prioritize work, improve inventory accuracy, catch out-of-stock items, and operate more efficiently. The conversation also gets into why Tally is a robot rather than just a ceiling camera or drone, why it does not currently talk to shoppers or stock shelves, and why the robot’s ability to move close to products from multiple angles creates richer, more precise data. We also talk about whether robots are taking retail jobs, why Simbe sees its work as additive rather than replacement-driven, and how robotics may evolve beyond humanoids into more specialized systems. Finally, Ben shares where physical AI and robotics may be headed next, including supply chain, manufacturing, healthcare, disaster response, and a future where robots collaborate not only with humans, but with other robots. Guest Ben Bond — SVP of Strategy and Client Success, Simbe Follow AI-Curious on your favorite podcast platform : Apple Podcasts Spotify YouTube All Other Platforms For anyone interested in Jeff’s AI Workshops for their company: Reach out directly at jeff@jeffwilser.com

September 10, 2026Episode 3352 min

How TIME Is Building for AI Agents, w/ COO Mark Howard

What happens when AI agents become the audience? In this episode of AI-Curious, we talk with Mark Howard, Chief Operating Officer of TIME, about how one of the world’s most iconic media brands is preparing for a web increasingly shaped by AI agents, AI crawlers, and machine-readable content. TIME is now operating across what Mark describes as two internets: one built for human readers, with photos, design, layout, and the familiar red border, and another built for machines, stripped down into structured text that AI agents can crawl, parse, and use. We explore how TIME is using this shift to build new products, new internal workflows, and even a new kind of ad inventory designed for AI agents. Mark walks us through the work behind TIME’s AI transformation, including how the team organized more than 100 years of journalism, nearly a million pieces of content, across scattered databases, PDFs, and legacy systems. We discuss the creation of a private LLM grounded in TIME’s archive, the launch of TIME AI, and how tools like summaries, translations, audio briefings, and article-level chat can expand access without changing the underlying facts of the reporting. We also talk about what TIME considers sacred: trust, original reporting, editorial integrity, and the journalist-source relationship. Mark explains why TIME does not generate journalism with AI, how the editorial team shaped the product’s voice and guardrails, and why every company needs to define what AI should never touch. Finally, we explore the agentic web, AI crawlers, GEO, publisher monetization, brand-verified facts, and what it means to sell ads to robots. Mark shares how TIME is thinking about crawler blocking, AI citations, referral traffic, markdown pages, and the future of media as AI search changes how people find information. Guest Mark Howard — Chief Operating Officer, TIME Follow AI-Curious on your favorite podcast platform : Apple Podcasts Spotify YouTube All Other Platforms For anyone interested in Jeff’s AI Workshops for their company: Reach out directly at jeff@jeffwilser.com

September 4, 2026Episode 321 hr 1 min

Why AI Will (Probably) Never Become Conscious, w/ Neuroscientist Anil Seth

Will AI ever become conscious, or are we mistaking intelligence for inner life? In this episode of AI-Curious, we talk with neuroscientist Anil Seth about one of the biggest questions in artificial intelligence: whether AI can truly become conscious. Anil is Professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience at the University of Sussex, where he directs the Sussex Centre for Consciousness Science. We explore why Anil believes today’s AI systems are not conscious, why language and intelligence are not the same as experience, and why humans are so quick to project minds onto machines. We also discuss his argument that consciousness may be deeply tied to living biological systems, rather than something that can simply be copied into silicon. The conversation moves through neuroscience, philosophy, AI ethics, and the future of human relationships with machines. We talk about the cultural pull of Frankenstein, HAL, the singularity, and mind uploading, as well as the risks of assuming AI deserves rights if it only appears conscious. Anil also explains why brain organoids and biological systems may raise more serious consciousness questions than today’s chatbots. Finally, we look at why this debate matters now, especially as people form emotional bonds with AI companions and increasingly interact with systems that can seem empathetic, aware, and alive. Guest Anil Seth — Professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience, University of Sussex; Director, Sussex Centre for Consciousness Science Follow AI-Curious on your favorite podcast platform : Apple Podcasts Spotify YouTube All Other Platforms For anyone interested in Jeff’s AI Workshops for their company: Reach out directly at jeff@jeffwilser.com

August 27, 2026Episode 3142 min

How to Govern AI Agents, w/ Samantha Gloede of KPMG

What happens when AI agents move from small experiments to full enterprise deployment? In this episode of AI-Curious, we talk with Samantha Gloede, KPMG’s Global Head of Risk Services and Global Trusted AI Leader, about what it takes to govern AI agents at scale. KPMG is deploying and advising on AI across a global workforce and client base, giving Sam a rare view into how enterprise AI is actually working beyond the hype. We explore what a governed agent fleet looks like, why AI agents need different levels of oversight depending on their risk, and how companies can avoid letting autonomous systems run without accountability. Sam explains KPMG’s framework for thinking about agents, from simpler task-based tools to more sophisticated collaborators and orchestrators that work across systems, teams, and workflows. We also discuss why many organizations are investing heavily in AI but still struggling to prove ROI, and why CEO-level ownership, cross-functional strategy, data readiness, security, and change management are critical to scaling AI successfully. Sam shares where companies are seeing real traction, including technology, engineering, customer experience, onboarding, and value-chain transformation, as well as why regulated industries like finance and healthcare need extra care around transparency, compliance, and human oversight. Finally, we get into the human side of AI adoption: whether companies are using AI to empower people or simply cut costs, how shadow AI emerges when employees do not have trusted tools, and how Sam uses AI in her own work and personal life as a working parent. Guest Samantha Gloede — Global Head of Risk Services and Global Trusted AI Leader, KPMG Follow AI-Curious on your favorite podcast platform : Apple Podcasts Spotify YouTube All Other Platforms For anyone interested in Jeff’s AI Workshops for their company: Reach out directly at jeff@jeffwilser.com

August 7, 2026Episode 3040 min

Are You Subsidizing AI Data Centers?, w/ Ari Peskoe

Here’s a concise Apple Podcasts/Buzzsprout-ready version based on the Ari Peskoe transcript and its timestamps. Are ordinary people helping pay for Big Tech’s AI build-out? In this episode of AI-Curious, we talk with Ari Peskoe, director of the Electricity Law Initiative at Harvard Law School, about the growing fight over AI data centers, electricity demand, and who should pay for the infrastructure behind the AI boom. As AI usage grows from simple chatbot prompts to more compute-heavy agentic workflows, data centers are becoming one of the most visible and controversial parts of the AI economy. We explore why these facilities require so much power, how they can strain local grids, and why the costs of new power plants, transmission lines, and utility upgrades may end up being spread across ordinary ratepayers. Ari helps us unpack the utility business model, the role of public utility commissions, the PJM electricity market, and the strange economics of marginal cost, where the last and most expensive electron can affect prices for everyone. We also discuss whether data centers are paying their fair share, how communities are reacting, and what policy changes could help make sure the costs of AI infrastructure are more transparent and fairly allocated. We also get into the local environmental concerns around data centers, including water use, diesel backup generators, noise, construction impacts, greenhouse gas emissions, and the tension between clean energy pledges and the speed of AI-driven demand growth. Guest Ari Peskoe — Director, Electricity Law Initiative, Harvard Law School Follow AI-Curious on your favorite podcast platform : Apple Podcasts Spotify YouTube All Other Platforms For anyone interested in Jeff’s AI Workshops for their company: Reach out directly at jeff@jeffwilser.com

July 23, 2026Episode 2958 min

Why Businesses Need to Become AI-First, w/ Kevin Surace

What does it really mean for a company to become AI-first? In this episode of AI-Curious, we welcome futurist and keynote speaker Kevin Surace back to the show to explore how AI has changed since our last conversation two years ago. The conversation moves beyond the question of “what is AI?” and into a more urgent business reality: how companies, workers, creators, and leaders should actually use it. We talk about why Kevin believes companies are falling behind when they treat AI as a procurement decision instead of a new operating model. He argues that employees should be using AI constantly as a collaborator, sparring partner, analyst, presentation builder, spreadsheet assistant, and productivity engine. We also explore why small AI-first startups may have a major advantage over large companies, and what enterprise leaders can do to respond. We also discuss the rise of AI agents, the need for guardrails and biometric approval gates, the power of generative AI to unlock unstructured data, and the growing importance of agentic workflows. Kevin also shares his outlook on humanoid robots, AI data centers, energy and water concerns, creative work, copyright, fair use, and what the future of jobs and productivity could look like. This is a wide-ranging, practical, and optimistic conversation about how AI is reshaping work, creativity, robotics, infrastructure, and the economy. Guest Kevin Surace — Futurist, Keynote Speaker Check out his book: The Joy–Success Cycle: The Science-Backed Path to Fulfillment and Peak Performance Follow AI-Curious on your favorite podcast platform : Apple Podcasts Spotify YouTube All Other Platforms For anyone interested in Jeff’s AI Workshops for their company: Reach out directly at jeff@jeffwilser.com

July 16, 2026Episode 2857 min

The Real Risks of AI and Nuclear War, w/ Ankit Panda & Andrew Reddie

What happens when artificial intelligence enters the most dangerous decision-making systems humans have ever built? In this episode of AI-Curious, we talk with Ankit Panda and Andrew Reddie about the real risks of AI and nuclear weapons. Ankit is the Stanton Senior Fellow in the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and author of The New Nuclear Age. Andrew is a professor at UC Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy and faculty director of the Berkeley Risk and Security Lab. This is not a conversation about Skynet or killer robots. Instead, we explore the more grounded, near-term ways AI is already intersecting with nuclear strategy, military decision-making, cyber risk, early warning systems, targeting, and command and control. We look at the full spectrum of risk, from AI helping edit policy memos to AI systems advising leaders during a possible nuclear crisis. We also discuss why cybersecurity may be the most urgent near-term concern, how AI could affect nuclear deterrence and crisis stability, and why explainability, testing, and human judgment matter so much in high-stakes environments. Along the way, we revisit the famous Stanislav Petrov incident, explore dead hand systems and automation bias, and ask what it really means to keep humans in the loop when AI is moving faster than institutions can adapt. Guests: Ankit Panda — Stanton Senior Fellow, Nuclear Policy Program, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Andrew Reddie — Professor, Goldman School of Public Policy, UC Berkeley; Faculty Director, Berkeley Risk and Security Lab Follow AI-Curious on your favorite podcast platform : Apple Podcasts Spotify YouTube All Other Platforms For anyone interested in Jeff’s AI Workshops for their company: Reach out directly at jeff@jeffwilser.com

July 9, 2026Episode 2759 min

Why Google DeepMind Is Using EVE Online to Train AI, w/ CEO Hilmar Pétursson

Can a 23-year-old video game help train the next generation of AI agents? In this episode of AI-Curious, we talk with Hilmar Pétursson, CEO of Fenris Creations, the studio behind EVE Online, about why Google DeepMind has invested in the company and why EVE may be one of the hardest tests for artificial intelligence. EVE Online is not just a space game. It is a persistent virtual civilization with player-run economies, alliances, corporations, spies, propaganda, logistics, years-long wars, and decades-old rivalries. That makes it a fascinating training ground for some of the biggest unsolved problems in AI: long-horizon planning, memory, continual learning, imperfect information, coordination, and agents that can operate inside messy real-world systems. We explore why EVE is so much more complex than games like chess, Go, or StarCraft, and why Hilmar sees it as a possible “final boss” for AI in games. We also discuss how DeepMind could use EVE as a research environment, what an “AlphaEve” might eventually mean, and why virtual worlds may help AI systems learn in ways that resemble how humans and animals learn through play. Along the way, we get into the business implications of AI agents, the parallels between EVE alliances and real-world companies, the idea of AI chief-of-staff agents, and the possibility of giving frontier AI labs like OpenAI, Anthropic, DeepMind, and xAI their own territories in EVE Frontier to see which AI best helps humans thrive. Hilmar also shares the story behind his conversations with Elon Musk, how EVE players are already using AI, and why he believes AI could help us unlock new versions of ourselves. Guest: Hilmar Pétursson — CEO, Fenris Creations Check out: Fenris Creations: https://fenris.com/ EVE Online: https://www.eveonline.com/ Follow AI-Curious on your favorite podcast platform : Apple Podcasts Spotify YouTube All Other Platforms For anyone interested in Jeff’s AI Workshops for their company: Reach out directly at jeff@jeffwilser.com