AI focus is switching to monetisation

Open AI's play to be the new web front end

Is advertising inevitable?

The executive / staff gap on AI deployment

How MBA student perspectives are changing

Digital twins: is synthetic research any good?

Virtual focus groups in politics

AI cannot escape its training data

Digital twins have a pro-tech bias

Can humans hang on to creativity?

Tim and Theos wrap up

Olivier Toubia is a Columbia Business School professor working at the frontier of AI, marketing, consumer behaviour, and digital twins. This was recorded late last year but his arguments are relevant and clear: LLMs drive towards the average which means its hard to mimic the diversity of human existence. 


Digital twins are promising — but not ready. Synthetic consumers for research purposes (e.g. virtual focus groups) are fast and cheap, but Toubia’s research suggests they are still too biased and inconsistent to trust too far. Learn what happened when they compared digital and human twins' responses to the same questions.


Politics is the worst domain to deploy synthetic focus groups: The base model exerts a powerful pull. Twins often reflect the worldview of the model as much as the individual they are meant to represent, especially in politics, where performance is weakest. AI is too sensible - compared to humans it tends to be more moderate: in one study 45% of humans wanted to deport illegal immigrants and only 5% of digital twins agreed.


Synthetic personalities reflect a clear pro-tech bias. Twins tend to be more comfortable with algorithms, less concerned about privacy, and more trusting of technology than humans actually are. AI twins thinks AI is smarter than humans....


Generative AI has entered its monetisation phase with advertising as the likely endgame Subscriptions and enterprise sales matter, but the bigger prize is becoming the interface for search, discovery, decision-making, and purchase.


Business adoption remains uneven but labour anxiety is rational Many pilots are failing to deliver meaningful returns; senior leaders are often enthusiastic, while middle managers and employees are more sceptical.


AI can be creative, but not at the edges. AI tools can recombine ideas - "its a fallacy to think that AI will never be able create new things". However, it still misses the diversity of lived experience that gives humans their edge. The push is towards the average.

We usually worry about AI driving polarisation - Olivier's work shows that current LLM tools trend towards the opposite. Humans can provide the spikiness and AI the padding. 

Olivier Toubia is a Columbia Business School professor working at the frontier of AI, marketing, consumer behaviour, and digital twins. This was recorded late last year but his arguments are relevant and clear: LLMs drive towards the average which means its hard to mimic the diversity of human existence.&nbsp;
<ul>
<li data-section-id="1ittmph" data-start="1247" data-end="1429">
Digital twins are promising &mdash; but not ready. Synthetic consumers for research purposes (e.g. virtual focus groups) are fast and cheap, but Toubia&rsquo;s research suggests they are still too biased and inconsistent to trust too far. Learn what happened when they compared digital and human twins' responses to the same questions.
</li>
<li data-section-id="1ittmph" data-start="1247" data-end="1429">
Politics is the worst domain to deploy synthetic focus groups: The base model exerts a powerful pull. Twins often reflect the worldview of the model as much as the individual they are meant to represent, especially in politics, where performance is weakest. AI is too sensible - compared to humans it tends to be more moderate: in one study 45% of humans wanted to deport illegal immigrants and only 5% of digital twins agreed.
</li>
<li data-section-id="1ittmph" data-start="1247" data-end="1429">
Synthetic personalities reflect a clear pro-tech bias. Twins tend to be more comfortable with algorithms, less concerned about privacy, and more trusting of technology than humans actually are. AI twins thinks AI is smarter than humans....
</li>
<li data-section-id="nfuav7" data-start="1633" data-end="1810">
Generative AI has entered its monetisation phase with advertising as the likely endgame Subscriptions and enterprise sales matter, but the bigger prize is becoming the interface for search, discovery, decision-making, and purchase.
</li>
<li data-section-id="nfuav7" data-start="1633" data-end="1810">
Business adoption remains uneven but labour anxiety is rational Many pilots are failing to deliver meaningful returns; senior leaders are often enthusiastic, while middle managers and employees are more sceptical.
</li>
<li data-section-id="nfuav7" data-start="1633" data-end="1810">
AI can be creative, but not at the edges. AI tools can recombine ideas - "its a fallacy to think that AI will never be able create new things". However, it still misses the diversity of lived experience that gives humans their edge. The push is towards the average.
</li>
</ul>
We usually worry about AI driving polarisation - Olivier's work shows that current LLM tools trend towards the opposite. Humans can provide the spikiness and AI the padding.&nbsp;

AI changes everything it touches. For better and for worse. And AI is increasingly touching everything. The Age of Intelligence, recorded from INSEAD, brings together the voices of this new era.

AI is rebalancing the world. Power is shifting — among nations, corporations, and individuals — as trillions in value are created and redistributed. AI is increasingly central to economic and business strategy, geopolitical influence, and the shaping of culture, ideology, and values.

Listen to those leading the change—from academics exploring the boundaries, to entrepreneurs building the future, business leaders reshaping markets, policy-makers tackling the implications, and analysts marvelling at it.

Who will gain most in this unfolding era? What can executives, policymakers, parents, and citizens do to protect and shape their future? How will values and beliefs evolve as education and media are revolutionized? What does this mean for national security, business survival, personal agency – indeed what will it mean to be human?

Guiding you through this conversation are Theos and Tim. Theos Evgeniou is a leading AI academic at INSEAD, entrepreneur, and advisor. Tim Gordon, co-founder at Best Practice AI, is an entrepreneur, adviser and recovering political organiser. They have worked with some of the world’s most sophisticated companies, organisations and governments as they grapple with these questions.

Each episode features a thought-provoking conversation with a remarkable guest – followed by a rapid-fire, high-energy debrief.

We’ll reflect on what it might mean – for you, for your business, and for our world. Grounded in the realities but exploring the opportunities.

Whether you’re building, investing in, or simply trying to make sense of AI and what it may mean for you, this podcast is your backstage pass to the diverse people and ideas driving the most transformative force of our time.

Subscribe now or push the “like” button

AI changes everything it touches. For better and for worse. And AI is increasingly touching everything. The Age of Intelligence, recorded from INSEAD, brings together the voices of this new era.
AI is rebalancing the world. Power is shifting &mdash; among nations, corporations, and individuals &mdash; as trillions in value are created and redistributed. AI is increasingly central to economic and business strategy, geopolitical influence, and the shaping of culture, ideology, and values.
Listen to those leading the change&mdash;from academics exploring the boundaries, to entrepreneurs building the future, business leaders reshaping markets, policy-makers tackling the implications, and analysts marvelling at it.
Who will gain most in this unfolding era? What can executives, policymakers, parents, and citizens do to protect and shape their future? How will values and beliefs evolve as education and media are revolutionized? What does this mean for national security, business survival, personal agency &ndash; indeed what will it mean to be human?
Guiding you through this conversation are Theos and Tim. Theos Evgeniou is a leading AI academic at INSEAD, entrepreneur, and advisor. Tim Gordon, co-founder at Best Practice AI, is an entrepreneur, adviser and recovering political organiser. They have worked with some of the world&rsquo;s most sophisticated companies, organisations and governments as they grapple with these questions.
Each episode features a thought-provoking conversation with a remarkable guest &ndash; followed by a rapid-fire, high-energy debrief.
We&rsquo;ll reflect on what it might mean &ndash; for you, for your business, and for our world. Grounded in the realities but exploring the opportunities.
Whether you&rsquo;re building, investing in, or simply trying to make sense of AI and what it may mean for you, this podcast is your backstage pass to the diverse people and ideas driving the most transformative force of our time.
Subscribe now or push the &ldquo;like&rdquo; button