Danny In The Valley

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Dmitri Mehlhorn to talk about Investing in Us (4:45), what it invests in (7:30), funneling cash into election groups (13:20), why America’s election will be decided by the finest of margins (16:50), how artificial intelligence fits with democracy (21:15), the dangers (26:05), Silicon Valley’s attitude to politics (32:50), what works when it comes to changing people’s minds (37:30), why age might not be Joe Biden’s biggest problem (41:40), and a terrifying thought experiment (45:00). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A throwback conversation with Bryan Johnson, a billionaire techie turned longevity enthusiast who goes to extreme measures to "reverse" his age. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Sal Khan, founder of Khan Academy, to talk about how he started tutoring family members (4:30), doing startups in the dotcom boom (5:50), starting to do videos in 2006 (10:15), building a business from his closet (14:15), linking up with openAI (16:30), building an AI tutor (19:40), dealing with hallucinations (22:30), moving from text to voice and video (25:55), the Covid effect (30:30), an education co-pilot (33:45), the relationship with schools (38:00), and his new book (42:50). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Martin Adams of Metaphysic to talk about using artificial intelligence in entertainment (3:20), the Tom Cruise moment (5:50), how the technology is accelerating (9:20), what it means for Hollywood (13:10), scaling humans (17:35), how much data is needed (22:40), copyrighting people (25:20), the election (30:10), his early days running raves in London (34:35), growing up in Essex (37:40), going to Harvard law (38:45), and the first AI feature film (40:00). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Jim Steyer, founder of Common Sense Media, the leading online advocacy group, to talk about 2024 as a pivotal year for democracy (4:20), whether Facebook is ready (8:30), Tiktok (10:10), AI-powered misinformation (12:30), why he’s more worried than ever for democracy (17:10), why he thinks regulation will come, but not from Washington (21:30), X under Musk (27:40), the low-hanging fruit (32:00), and the best and worst case for 2024 (33:50). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on David Stein, chief executive of Babson Diagnostics, to talk about the importance of blood testing (4:49), why Babson is not Theranos (6:47), trying to compete with that idea (9:26), why they succeeded where Theranos failed (14:34), using a tiny amount of blood (18:23), fighting against the Theranos effect (24:37), being owned by a company they aim to disrupt (26:28), liquid biopsies (28:02), the new age of biological data (32:23), regulatory approval (37:09), and avoiding the spotlight (39:03). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Sunday Times' tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Christian Angermayer, founder of Apeiron Investments, to talk about psychedelics in Oregon (4:15), the spiritual experience of a “trip” (11:30), progressing toward the first FDA approval (15:30), how this will be introduced into the market (21:10), why having a qualified guide/therapist is critical (25:30), gaining societal acceptance (30:20), why he funded the longevity XPrize (34:20), the new approach to ageing (41:00), why we are on the cusp of a breakthrough in life span (42:30), the Ozempic effect (49:00, thriving in a toxic society (56:20), and how AI dovetails with psychedelics and longevity (1:01:50). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Keith Rabois of Founders Fund to talk about leaving San Francisco for Miami (4:00), why San Francisco is a “black hole” (7:00), why remote work is broken (11:00), staying on the AI sidelines (16:30), running Openstore (18:40), the Paypal story (26:50), hiring well (30:00), shrinking their fund (33:50), and why big venture capital funds won’t make money (38:20). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A special episode for your from our daily podcast from The Times: Last week, Sam Altman the CEO of OpenAI - the makers of ChatGPT - was sacked by his board. After a dramatic few days, he is back at the company along with a new board. But is it really business as usual at OpenAI?   Guest: Danny Fortson, West Coast Correspondent, The Sunday Times. Host: Manveen Rana.  Listen to the Stories of Our Times podcast - https://www.thetimes.co.uk/podcasts/stories-of-our-times  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Naveen Rao, founder of MosaicML, to talk about the efficiency of the human brain (3:30), slashing the cost to train AI models (8:00), how this is like the evolution of the car (11:40), selling to Databricks (14:30), how the AI market will evolve (17:00), the fallacy of AI doomerism (21:00), growing up in eastern Kentucky (22:30), plunging into the dotcom boom (24:50), why he studied neuroscience (27:10), selling his previous startup to Intel (32:00), solving intelligence (34:40), and what he tells his kids about the future (40:00). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Dan Siroker, founder of Rewind AI, to talk about why he started the company (4:40), recording everything you do, see and read (7:10), living life on a “hot mic" (10:20), the pendant (12:45), bringing Black Mirror to life (17:00), AI as cognitive butler (23:45), growing up surrounded by tech in Palo Alto (28:00), working on the Obama campaign (29:00), making mistakes at other companies (34:00), his view of Sam Altman (37:35), how he uses Rewind (43:00), and dealing with the hallucination problem (44:30). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Hugh Harvey, managing director of consultancy Hardian Health, to talk about his time at Babylon Health (4:30), his first look at the company’s “artificial intelligence” (7:00), why it’s hard to build a medical chatbot (11:30), the siloed nature of the company (14:30), its regulatory loophole (16:20), Ali Parsa’s obsession with creating an “AlphaGo moment" (21:10), the gong (24:15), how the company became more brazen with its marketing (27:10), why getting chatbots certified as medical devices is so hard (29:45), and why the Silicon Valley way often doesn't work in medicine (33:00). Link to The Sunday Times' investigation: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/rise-and-fall-of-babylon-healthcare-the-doctor-in-your-pocket-3p6q6jjfx Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on two guests to talk about artificial intelligence. The first is Vinod Khosla, the legendary tech investor and founder of Khosla Ventures, to talk about how the rise of AI compares to previous breakthroughs (4:00), how it is like the Manhattan Project (8:00), why universal basic income may be necessary (16:20), and the culture war aspect of AI (20:25). Then, Tyler Cowen, the George Mason University economist, blogger and author, comes on to talk about this moment in history (26:00), AI doomerism (28:40), the open v closed debate (31:50), why he’s not too worried about misinformation (35:25), why AI will save crypto (40:30), the return of ‘moving history’ (42:50), how he has changed how he teaches (45:20), the end of the smartphone (47:20), the future of work (51:50), AI as a doomsday weapon (55:30), why he published the world's first “generative’ book (1:00:15), and the end of the browser (1:05:20). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more inf

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Krishna Rangasayee, founder and CEO of Sima.ai, to talk about why we need to remake the tech infrastructure for the AI age (5:10), what the “edge” is (8:30), why he started the company (11:00), the problem with the cloud (15:00), developing a new architecture (19:00), growing up in India (20:45), coming to Mississippi (25:20), starting the company at age 50 (30:00), why being the boss has been so challenging (34:40), the future (37:00), and why AI is like teenage sex (41:00). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Alex Colville, co-founder of Age1, to talk about funding longevity science (3:15), studying the biology of ageing (5:10), the snake oil problem (11:05),  the rise of “geroscience” (15:15), healthspan (23:05), the ageing hypothesis (26:55), the potential of metformin (30:05), working on an anti-ageing treatment (34:15), and how long he thinks we’ll live (38:45). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Pascal Lamy, chairman of the Climate Overshoot Commission to talk about climate migration (7:30), the huge cost of adaptation (12:40), solar geoengineering (14:40), the attraction of a sticking plaster solution (21:25), termination shock (26:40), carbon takeback obligations (32:30), pollution removal (37:00), and how Britain fights into this fight (41:10) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Sunday Times' tech correspondent Danny Fortson rings on Alex Blania, chief executive of Worldcoin developer Tools for Humanity, to talk about launching its iris-scanning orb around the world (5:00), testifying in Nairobi (9:40), signing people up (12:45), what problems it is trying to solve (16:10), proof of personhood in the age of fakery (19:20), the role of cryptocurrency (22:30), not offering crypto in America (26:10), the guiding philosophy (28:20), universal basic income (30:30), growing up in Germany (34:40), getting an email from Sam Altman (36:00), his worst day (40:10), privacy (42:45), and having their orbs seized (45:40). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Ranit Aharonov to talk about this moment for artificial intelligence (3:15), studying the brain (6:30), Project Debater (8:30), neural networks (11:30), language’s AlphaGo moment (14:50), the big idea at Pangea (19:20), getting it into the hands of doctors and drug communities (23:25), the role of AI in this tool (26:15), the regulatory limits (32:15), and why she didn't debate the AI she created (37:25). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Walter Isaacson, the biographer of Elon Musk, to talk about his new book (3:10), Musks’ “heartlessness” (6:15), his maniacal sense of mission (10:50), his approach to pro-creation and children (18:00), his fear of loneliness (21:55), and why he can’t smell the flowers (25:00), the reaction to the book (28:35), why Isaacson doesn’t make judgments (30:10), “demon mode’ (34:30), the Twitter deal (38:45), and his political tack right (40:00). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Gregory Constantine, co-founder of Air Company, to talk about turning CO2 into fuel, booze and perfume (2:30), why they chose to do consumer products first (5:05), growing up in Australia (6:20), landing in New York (9:15), starting the company (12:00), its first product in 2019 (15:15), raising the first round of venture capital (20:40), shooting for fuel (21:40), their years couch-surfing (25:50), scaling up the technology (28:10), and the immigrant mindset (31:40). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.