How AI Could Reduce Inequality

David Autor is a labor economist at MIT. He has written about how the arrival of personal computers increased inequality among American workers. But when it comes to AI, David thinks there could be a different outcome.  Read David’s article about AI in Noema Magazine.  In this episode, David expl…

Racing Wildfires to Warn the Public

John Mills is the CEO and co-founder of a nonprofit called Watch Duty. His problem is this: How do you build an app to warn people when they are in immediate danger from a natural disaster? Watch Duty has millions of users and played a key role in the Los Angeles fires of 2025. In the show, John ta…

How AI Could Actually Make the World Better

Josh Tyrangiel is the author of “AI for Good: How Real People Are Using Artificial Intelligence to Fix Things That Matter.” On today’s show, Josh talks about some of these real people and the problems they’re working on: a professor trying to understand her nonverbal son, a general who delivered mi…

Finding Meaning (and Money) in the AI Age

Betsey Stevenson is a labor economist at the University of Michigan, and she was an economic adviser to President Obama. Betsey’s problem is this: How can we create a world where the benefits of AI are broadly shared? Betsey draws on history – including how the invention of household appliances cr…

Using Pokémon Go to Map the World

Maps have gotten much better over the past few decades. But they're still mostly two dimensional, and they struggle to keep up with a world that is always changing. Brian McClendon is the Chief Technology Officer of Niantic Spatial, a spinout of the company that makes Pokémon Go. Brian's problem is…

The Company Where Everyone Has Their Own AI Agent

Dan Shipper is the co-founder and CEO of Every, a company that publishes newsletters about AI, develops AI-related software, and helps other companies use AI. Dan has two problems. One, how do you build a company where almost everybody has their own AI agent? And two, how do you use AI as a tool to…

Inventing a Better Apple

The apples you can buy at the grocery store have gotten profoundly better over the past few decades. It’s a kind of everyday, hiding-in-plain sight innovation.  Kate Evans is an apple breeder and professor at Washington State University. Kate's problem is this: How do you invent a better apple? Wi…

Building a Business on the Moon

Rob Meyerson is the co-founder and CEO of Interlune. Rob's problem is this: How do you help build an economy on the moon? Eventually, Rob hopes Interlune will help build a moon base. For now, he is focused on bringing a gas called helium-3 back from the moon to sell on earth.  Earlier in his caree…

Building a Robot People Actually Want

Aaron Edsinger left his job as director of robotics at Google to start a company called Hello Robot. Aaron’s problem is this: How do you build an affordable robot that people can use to solve real problems at home? The result is a robot that looks nothing like a person. In fact, it’s closer to a Ro…

Turning Waste Wood Into Buildings

Ben Christensen is the co-founder and CEO of Cambium, the largest seller of salvaged wood in America. Ben's problem is this: How can we turn the trees that are falling to the ground all around us, into usable wood? In this episode, Ben explains:  Why so much wood goes unused  Why Cambium created d…