Azeem Azhar's Exponential View

By Azeem AzharBusiness News Technology Investing Tech News

Azeem Azhar's Exponential View episodes

December 15, 2021How Quantum Computing Will Change Everything (with Chad Rigetti)
Quantum computing won’t be an incremental improvement – it will be a step-change in the power of the technology that underpins a huge part of our economy. Exponentially faster computing won’t just help us solve problems more quickly, but it will also allow us to tackle problems that have been impossible to answer and find answers to questions we did not know to ask.
Chad Rigetti, founder and CEO of Rigetti Computing, speaks to Azeem Azhar about just how revolutionary quantum computing will be.
They also discuss:
How quantum could usher in a new computing revolution.
Why having the lead in quantum computing is turning into the contemporary equivalent of the “space race.”
How quantum computing could change how we do science.
@Azeem
@ChadRigetti
Further resources
‘Building A Quantum Computer with Light’, (Exponential View Podcast, 2021)
‘Making Quantum Computers a Commercial Reality’, (Exponential View Podcast, 2021)
About Exponential View:
Welcome to Exponential View, where Azeem Azhar examines how exponential technologies such as AI are reshaping the future. Each week, Azeem shares his analysis or speaks with an expert guest to shed light on frontier shifts across technology, business and society.

To keep up with the Exponential transition, subscribe to this channel or the newsletter: https://www.exponentialview.co/
To keep up with our AI economy research, subscribe to https://www.investmentbrief.ai/

Where to find me:
Exponential View newsletter: https://www.exponentialview.co/
Website: https://www.azeemazhar.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/azeem/
Twitter/X: https://x.com/azeem

Production by EPIIPLUS1.
Production and research: Baba Films, Marija Gavrilov.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
48 min
December 08, 2021Nuclear Fusion’s Time is (Finally) Coming
Nuclear fusion seems to have been “twenty years away” forever, but recent advances could mean fusion is finally on its way to becoming part of our energy mix. Azeem Azhar speaks to Nick Hawker, co-founder and CEO of First Light Fusion, a UK-based company that uses an approach it calls “projectile fusion” to generate energy.
That method uses an electromagnetic launcher to fire material towards fuel at high speeds. Nick explains why it’s one of the most promising approaches to a problem that has puzzled physicists for decades. He breaks down the challenges, both extraordinary and mundane, that fusion experiments involve.
They also discuss:
Why First Light Fusion’s system could generate power more efficiently than the sun.
When the first fusion reactor could plug into an electrical grid.
How many lasers it takes to turn on a light bulb.
@Azeem
@FLF_Nick
Further resources
Investing in Deep Tech for an Abundant Future (Exponential View Podcast, 2021)
About Exponential View:
Welcome to Exponential View, where Azeem Azhar examines how exponential technologies such as AI are reshaping the future. Each week, Azeem shares his analysis or speaks with an expert guest to shed light on frontier shifts across technology, business and society.

To keep up with the Exponential transition, subscribe to this channel or the newsletter: https://www.exponentialview.co/
To keep up with our AI economy research, subscribe to https://www.investmentbrief.ai/

Where to find me:
Exponential View newsletter: https://www.exponentialview.co/
Website: https://www.azeemazhar.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/azeem/
Twitter/X: https://x.com/azeem

Production by EPIIPLUS1.
Production and research: Baba Films, Marija Gavrilov.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
45 min
December 01, 2021Grading AI: The Hits and Misses
Murray Shanahan, professor of cognitive robotics at Imperial College London and a senior research scientist at DeepMind, joins Azeem Azhar to discuss AI: where developments have exceeded expectations, where they have fallen short, and what the next steps are towards an artificial general intelligence (AGI).
They explore the hurdles that stand in the way of truly intelligent computer programs: why an AGI might need to exist in a body that can sense the world around it to reach its full potential, whether we can teach computers common sense, and what it means for a self-driving car to “think.”
They also discuss:
What the future of AI may have in common with the aeronautical ingenuity of the Wright brothers.
The pros and cons of the various approaches to AI from symbolic models to convoluted neural networks, transformers, and generative models.
Why huge salaries for commercial deep learning engineers might actually hinder research.
@mpshanahan
@exponentialview
@Azeem
Further resources:
AI’s Competitive Advantage (Exponential View podcast, 2021)
How To Practice Responsible AI (Exponential View podcast, 2021)
‘Conscious exotica’ (Murray Shanahan, Aeon, 2016)
State of AI Report 2021 (Nathan Benaich and Ian Hogarth)
About Exponential View:
Welcome to Exponential View, where Azeem Azhar examines how exponential technologies such as AI are reshaping the future. Each week, Azeem shares his analysis or speaks with an expert guest to shed light on frontier shifts across technology, business and society.

To keep up with the Exponential transition, subscribe to this channel or the newsletter: https://www.exponentialview.co/
To keep up with our AI economy research, subscribe to https://www.investmentbrief.ai/

Where to find me:
Exponential View newsletter: https://www.exponentialview.co/
Website: https://www.azeemazhar.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/azeem/
Twitter/X: https://x.com/azeem

Production by EPIIPLUS1.
Production and research: Baba Films, Marija Gavrilov.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
49 min
November 24, 2021Technology and Redistribution of Power (with Yanis Varoufakis)
Former Greek Finance Minister, economist, and bestselling author Yanis Varoufakis joins Azeem Azhar to discuss his speculative novel Another Now. In that book, he presents a world where mass organization, technological progress, and an overhaul of companies and markets have made society more equitable. Like all great science fiction, the book is as much about the present as the future.
Yanis is an advocate of blockchain technology and “one person, one vote” structures, as measures to redistribute power. He and Azeem discuss how tech could change our world for the better – if we use it judiciously.They also discuss:
How Yanis’s proposals for a Greek digital currency ran aground.
Where COP26 fell short.
How equitable technological progress could lead us to a “Star Trek”-like utopia.
Further resources:
How Taiwan is Using Technology to Foster Democracy – Exponential View Podcast, 2020
‘A Central Bank Cryptocurrency to Democratize Money’ – Yanis Varoufakis, Project Syndicate, Jul. 2021
‘Cop26 is doomed, and the hollow promise of ‘net zero’ is to blame’ – Yanis Varoufakis, The Guardian, Nov. 2021
About Exponential View:
Welcome to Exponential View, where Azeem Azhar examines how exponential technologies such as AI are reshaping the future. Each week, Azeem shares his analysis or speaks with an expert guest to shed light on frontier shifts across technology, business and society.

To keep up with the Exponential transition, subscribe to this channel or the newsletter: https://www.exponentialview.co/
To keep up with our AI economy research, subscribe to https://www.investmentbrief.ai/

Where to find me:
Exponential View newsletter: https://www.exponentialview.co/
Website: https://www.azeemazhar.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/azeem/
Twitter/X: https://x.com/azeem

Production by EPIIPLUS1.
Production and research: Baba Films, Marija Gavrilov.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
53 min
November 17, 2021The AI Revolution is Just Beginning (with Nathan Benaich and Ian Hogarth)
Artificial intelligence had a breakout year, with major new developments in disparate fields, from medical biology to defense. AI investors Nathan Benaich and Ian Hogarth, who co-author the annual “State of AI” report, join Azeem Azhar to explore why AI is thriving in those sectors. In addition, they offer their take on the flood of new investments in AI and how we can best keep this technology safe for humanity.
They also discuss:
Why AI is fundamentally changing how we research medical science.
How an AI system developed to learn the English language can be adapted to understand gene sequences.
How the bottlenecks in AI deployment are being exploited by states for competitive advantage.
@azeem
@exponentialview
@nathanbenaich
@soundboy
Further resources:
State of AI Report 2021 (Nathan Benaich and Ian Hogarth)
AI’s Competitive Advantage (Exponential View podcast, 2021)
How To Practice Responsible AI (Exponential View podcast, 2021)
About Exponential View:
Welcome to Exponential View, where Azeem Azhar examines how exponential technologies such as AI are reshaping the future. Each week, Azeem shares his analysis or speaks with an expert guest to shed light on frontier shifts across technology, business and society.

To keep up with the Exponential transition, subscribe to this channel or the newsletter: https://www.exponentialview.co/
To keep up with our AI economy research, subscribe to https://www.investmentbrief.ai/

Where to find me:
Exponential View newsletter: https://www.exponentialview.co/
Website: https://www.azeemazhar.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/azeem/
Twitter/X: https://x.com/azeem

Production by EPIIPLUS1.
Production and research: Baba Films, Marija Gavrilov.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
47 min
November 10, 2021Why Energy Storage Is the Future of the Grid (with Malta CEO Ramya Swaminathan)
Renewable energy is the future of power, but relying on solar, wind, etc. will require a more reliable and resilient grid. Effective energy storage would make it possible to smooth out discrepancies in supply and demand, and harness renewable power more efficiently.
A range of technologies are being developed and refined with that mission in mind, including large-scale lithium-ion batteries and clean hydrogen storage. Former Alphabet X moonshot spinoff Malta Inc. uses established industrial processes and molten salt to store energy and pump it back into the grid as demand requires. Malta CEO Ramya Swaminathan joins Azeem Azhar to discuss why energy storage is so crucial to fighting climate change, how it could affect the economics of energy, and why the electric grid of the future will be more technologically diverse and complex than today’s.
They also discuss:
How progress in energy storage could hit an exponential inflection point.
Working with established companies to revolutionize power distribution.
The market mechanisms necessary to optimize the grids of the future.
@azeem
@exponentialview
@maltaenergysto1
Further resources:
“Energy Storage to Steal $277B From Power Grids by 2050” – BloombergNEF, Mar. 2021
“Energy Storage Grand Challenge: Energy Storage Market Report” – U.S. Department of Energy, Dec. 2020
Bloomberg New Energy Finance
ARES
Energy Vault
About Exponential View:
Welcome to Exponential View, where Azeem Azhar examines how exponential technologies such as AI are reshaping the future. Each week, Azeem shares his analysis or speaks with an expert guest to shed light on frontier shifts across technology, business and society.

To keep up with the Exponential transition, subscribe to this channel or the newsletter: https://www.exponentialview.co/
To keep up with our AI economy research, subscribe to https://www.investmentbrief.ai/

Where to find me:
Exponential View newsletter: https://www.exponentialview.co/
Website: https://www.azeemazhar.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/azeem/
Twitter/X: https://x.com/azeem

Production by EPIIPLUS1.
Production and research: Baba Films, Marija Gavrilov.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
51 min
November 03, 2021Building a Multibillion-Dollar Company in 18 Months (with Hopin’s Johnny Boufarhat)
Hopin is one of the fastest-growing startups in history. Founder and CEO Johnny Boufarhat joins Azeem Azhar to talk about how he grew the virtual events company from six employees in February 2020, at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, to more than eight hundred, and a valuation of almost $8 billion, a year and a half later.
Johnny explains how he seized the opportunity presented by the pandemic, what it was like learning to lead at one of the fastest-growing startups in history, and why he dreams of a future in which a founder’s location is no impediment to success.
They also discuss:
Hopin’s future, beyond the world of work.
The promise of the metaverse, and the limits of VR.
Barriers to entry for founders from developing countries, and how to lower them.
@Johnnyboufarhat
@Azeem

Further resources
Making Venture Capital Work for Entrepreneurs – Exponential View Podcast, 2020
‘Scaling Innovation’ (with Elad Gil) – Exponential View Podcast, 2018
‘The Challenging Political Economy of Silicon Valley’ (with Reid Hoffman) – Exponential View Podcast, 2018
Building Unicorns in Europe (with Reshma Sohoni) – Exponential View Podcast, 2019
‘Events scaleup Hopin raises at $7.75bn valuation’ – Sifted, August 2021
‘CEO Secrets: “My billion-pound company has no office”’ – BBC, June 2021
About Exponential View:
Welcome to Exponential View, where Azeem Azhar examines how exponential technologies such as AI are reshaping the future. Each week, Azeem shares his analysis or speaks with an expert guest to shed light on frontier shifts across technology, business and society.

To keep up with the Exponential transition, subscribe to this channel or the newsletter: https://www.exponentialview.co/
To keep up with our AI economy research, subscribe to https://www.investmentbrief.ai/

Where to find me:
Exponential View newsletter: https://www.exponentialview.co/
Website: https://www.azeemazhar.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/azeem/
Twitter/X: https://x.com/azeem

Production by EPIIPLUS1.
Production and research: Baba Films, Marija Gavrilov.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
26 min
October 27, 2021Decarbonization by the Numbers (with Michele Della Vigna)
The transition to a greener economy is absolutely essential for the future of life as we know it. Governments and companies have committed to net-zero emissions by 2050, but it’s not clear how they plan to get there – or how much it will cost. Today’s guest, though, has some idea.
Michele Della Vigna runs the Carbonomics research program at Goldman Sachs, which looks at the economics behind a transition to net-zero emissions. On the eve of the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26), Michele joins Azeem Azhar to discuss the importance of carbon pricing, market pressure, and new technology in accelerating a shift to net-zero.
They also discuss:
Why the American consumer makes carbon taxes trickier.
The role of oil majors in the shift to renewables.
How corporate commitments to decarbonize could surprise at COP26.
@azeem
@exponentialview
Further resources:
Funding Innovation to Fight Climate Change (with Dawn Lippert, Elemental Excelerator), Exponential View Podcast, 2021
‘Carbonomics: Five Themes of Progress for COP26’ – Goldman Sachs Research
About Exponential View:
Welcome to Exponential View, where Azeem Azhar examines how exponential technologies such as AI are reshaping the future. Each week, Azeem shares his analysis or speaks with an expert guest to shed light on frontier shifts across technology, business and society.

To keep up with the Exponential transition, subscribe to this channel or the newsletter: https://www.exponentialview.co/
To keep up with our AI economy research, subscribe to https://www.investmentbrief.ai/

Where to find me:
Exponential View newsletter: https://www.exponentialview.co/
Website: https://www.azeemazhar.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/azeem/
Twitter/X: https://x.com/azeem

Production by EPIIPLUS1.
Production and research: Baba Films, Marija Gavrilov.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
44 min
October 20, 2021The Future of the Car (with Ford’s Hau Thai-Tang)
Ford has been making cars for 118 years — nearly all of them with internal combustion engines. It now faces the biggest challenge in its history. As the electric vehicle (EV) revolution accelerates and people rethink their relationships with cars, both automotive incumbents and upstarts are planning for a radically different world.
Ford’s chief product platform and operations officer Hau Thai-Tang is ideally placed to discuss what that shift looks like. He and Azeem Azhar explore how EV uptake will transform what a car is and what it means to own and drive one, as well as what it will take to retool Ford to thrive in the technology age.
They also discuss:
How doing away with combustion engines will revolutionize car design.
Why exponential uptake of EVs could happen within the next five years.
Why carmakers will start to look more like Netflix and Apple.
@azeem
@exponentialview
Further resources:
‘Ford, SK to invest $11.4 bln to add electric F-150 plant, three battery factories’ (Reuters)
‘Trends and developments in electric vehicle markets’ (IEA)
‘Levels of Autonomous Driving, Explained’ (J.D. Power)
About Exponential View:
Welcome to Exponential View, where Azeem Azhar examines how exponential technologies such as AI are reshaping the future. Each week, Azeem shares his analysis or speaks with an expert guest to shed light on frontier shifts across technology, business and society.

To keep up with the Exponential transition, subscribe to this channel or the newsletter: https://www.exponentialview.co/
To keep up with our AI economy research, subscribe to https://www.investmentbrief.ai/

Where to find me:
Exponential View newsletter: https://www.exponentialview.co/
Website: https://www.azeemazhar.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/azeem/
Twitter/X: https://x.com/azeem

Production by EPIIPLUS1.
Production and research: Baba Films, Marija Gavrilov.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
49 min
October 13, 2021Funding Innovation to Fight Climate Change
The climate crisis is the defining issue of our age, and to fight it effectively, we’ll have to redesign our world. That requires money and technological innovation – but it also demands knowledge of local communities, and policymaking. Dawn Lippert works at the intersection of all of those issues.
She’s the founder and CEO of Elemental Excelerator, a non-profit incubator that helps climate-focused startups deploy their technologies. In September 2021, Elemental spun out a $60m venture-capital fund that will help entrepreneurs tackling climate change to scale their solutions more rapidly. She joins Azeem Azhar to discuss how innovative climate tech companies can make it to market, and why workers at Silicon Valley’s biggest companies are flocking to the fight against climate change.
They also discuss:
The real-world challenges climate tech investors need to understand.
What Silicon Valley investors need to learn to work in climate tech.
Why climate impact investing is about more than reducing greenhouse gases.
@elementalexcel
@azeem
@exponentialview
Further resources:
Elemental Excelerator: global non-profit at the intersection of climate, innovation and equity
Ampaire: electric aircraft with real utility
Dimensional Energy: transforming CO2 from waste to resource
About Exponential View:
Welcome to Exponential View, where Azeem Azhar examines how exponential technologies such as AI are reshaping the future. Each week, Azeem shares his analysis or speaks with an expert guest to shed light on frontier shifts across technology, business and society.

To keep up with the Exponential transition, subscribe to this channel or the newsletter: https://www.exponentialview.co/
To keep up with our AI economy research, subscribe to https://www.investmentbrief.ai/

Where to find me:
Exponential View newsletter: https://www.exponentialview.co/
Website: https://www.azeemazhar.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/azeem/
Twitter/X: https://x.com/azeem

Production by EPIIPLUS1.
Production and research: Baba Films, Marija Gavrilov.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
37 min

About Azeem Azhar's Exponential View

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How will the future unfold? What is the impact of AI and other exponential technologies on business & society? Join Azeem Azhar, founder of Exponential View, on his quest to demistify the era of…