What's Your Problem?
What's Your Problem?
Every week on What’s Your Problem, entrepreneurs and engineers talk about the future they’re trying to build – and the problems they have to solve to get there. How do you take a drone delivery service you’ve built in Rwanda and make it work in North Carolina? How do you convince people to buy a house on the Internet? How do you sell thousands of dog ramps to weiner dogs all across America when…
Solving the Trust Problem in AI Shopping
Note: Today’s show is sponsored by PayPal. Kartik Hosanagar is a professor at the Wharton School. The problems he studies include: What will it take for people to trust AI agents to buy stuff for them? And how should businesses prepare for a world where their customers include AI agents? In this …
40:20
Can a Robot Build Better, Cheaper Houses?
Jason Ballard is the co-founder and CEO of ICON. Jason's problem is this: Can you use 3-D printing to build houses that are cheaper, better and more interesting than the houses we build now? In this episode, Jason explains: Why construction methods are so slow to change How 3D printing opens up …
50:34
Did AI Write This?
Celebrated novelists, countless students and at least one billionaire have recently been accused of using AI in their writing. The most commonly cited AI detector in these cases is called Pangram. Max Spero is the co-founder and CEO of Pangram. His problem is this: Can you build tools that reliab…
38:50
Blockers | A Preview of Michael Lewis's New Audiobook
I'm here with a preview of Blockers, a new audiobook from Michael Lewis, the author of Liars Poker, Moneyball, The Big Short and more. In Blockers, Lewis tells the story of a handful of people who dedicated their careers to public service—until the Department of Government Efficiency decided they w…
50:20
Can We Defeat Deepfakes?
We’ve all heard that nothing ever gets deleted from the internet. Luke Arrigoni says that just isn’t true. His company deletes thousands of deepfakes every day. Luke is the founder and CEO of Loti, and his problem is this: How do you turn the Internet into a place where people have more control ov…
38:45
The Printing Press: The Invention Built on Debt and Sin… from Business History
Before 1450, books were written out by hand. It was slow and expensive. But Johannes Gutenberg borrowed a ton of money to create a printing press that could crank out Bibles and pamphlets and documents in huge numbers. Science, politics and philosophy were all up-ended. For example, the Catholic …
46:32
Should We Pause AI?
Everybody’s worried about the risks of AI. So we called up one of the most insightful writers we know on the subject: Zvi Mowshowitz. Zvi writes about AI and AI risks at his substack, Don’t Worry About the Vase. Zvi’s problem is this: How do we prevent artificial intelligence from killing everyone?…
44:12
Bonus: Planning for Your Financial Future
On this bonus episode of What’s Your Problem, Jacob talks to Christine Chase, a Vice President, Financial Consultant at Fidelity Investments. Christine’s problem is this: How do you help clients build a plan to achieve their financial goals? Today’s show is sponsored by Fidelity Investments.
10:15
Can a Robot Kill Fish Humanely?
The fish we eat usually die slowly, suffocating after they’re pulled out of the water. Saif Khawaja is the co-founder and CEO of a company called Shinkei. Saif's problem is this: Can he build a machine to efficiently kill fish in a way that is more humane? In this episode, Saif explains: How he c…
38:22
Using Satellites to Prevent Famines
Catherine Nakalembe is an assistant professor at the University of Maryland and the head of the Africa program at NASA Harvest, which uses satellite images to track agriculture around the world. Catherine’s problem is this: How do you predict when a famine is coming – and how do you convince leader…
36:38