Azeem Azhar's Exponential View

By Azeem AzharBusiness News Technology Investing Tech News

Azeem Azhar's Exponential View episodes

October 06, 2021How Network Effects Rule the World (with James Currier)
Google, Facebook, Apple, and Uber are just some of the enormous companies that derive part of their value from network effects: The more users they have, the more value they provide. Network effects aren’t new. The basic principles that underpinned faxes and phone lines also underpin social media. But rapid technological change has made network effects more prevalent and more powerful than ever before.
Serial entrepreneur and early-stage investor James Currier is one of the world’s foremost experts on networks, and on the companies that use them best. He joins Azeem Azhar to discuss how companies with network effects dominate markets, and why their influence will likely continue to grow.
They also discuss:
Why network-effects companies dominate global markets, and how they can recast the way we think about the world.
Why networks can become harder to manage as they grow – and harder to do without.
The problems globe-spanning networks can cause – especially when the motives of dominant corporate players don’t align with what’s best for our societies.
How we should govern those networks in the coming decades.
@JamesCurrier
@azeem
@exponentialview
Further resources:
NFX’s Network Effects Bible (NFX)
“How to Regulate Facebook, with Nick Clegg” (Exponential View Podcast, 2021)
“Messi joins crypto craze as gets part of PSG fee in fan tokens” (Reuters, 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.
50 min
July 07, 2021Imagining Climate Futures with Kim Stanley Robinson
Kim Stanley Robinson, the legendary science-fiction novelist, has a private utopian hope: “to dodge a mass extinction event.” He joins Azeem Azhar to explore his recent novel, The Ministry For the Future, and what it would take for institutions, individuals, and emerging technologies to save millions of lives.
They also discuss:
When civil disobedience and direct climate action may become a moral necessity.
Why central banks and a radical shift of economic incentives are vital to drive decarbonization.
What climate restoration is and why it offers better prospects than climate engineering.
@azeem
@exponentialview
Kim Stanley Robinson
Further resources:
“Applying the Pandemic Mindset to Climate Change with Cory Doctorow” (Exponential View podcast, 2020)
“What can climate tech do for us?” (Exponential View newsletter, 2020)
“The Ministry For the Future” (Hachette, 2020)
“It’s Not Science Fiction” (The New York Review on The Ministry For the Future, 2020)
“Top central banks identify nine ways to make their policies greener” (Financial Times, 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.
1 hr 2 min
June 30, 2021How to Regulate Facebook (with Nick Clegg)
Facebook serves 34 percent of the world’s population and decides who to block and what to censor. How should governments regulate this startling power? Nick Clegg, the UK’s former deputy prime minister and now vice president of Global Affairs and Communications at Facebook, joins Azeem Azhar to explore how governments might reassert control in the exponential age.
They also discuss:
The major regulatory legislation coming down the pike in the U.S., the EU, and India.
Why allowing data portability between networks could be good for competition but a challenge for privacy.
Whether Facebook’s Oversight Board could be used to regulate other tech companies.
Why Clegg is pushing Facebook for increased transparency of its algorithms.
@nickclegg
@azeem
@exponentialview
Further resources:
“Fixing the Social Media Crisis” (Exponential View podcast with Sinan Aral, 2021)
“A bipartisan approach to break the deadlock on internet regulation” (Nick Clegg, Medium, 2021)
“Facebook must not be allowed to dictate how it gets regulated” (Wired, 2020)
“Battle commences A formidable alliance takes on Facebook” (The Economist, 2020)
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
June 23, 2021The Future of Digital Payments
Visa processes more than 500 million transactions every day. How is the world’s largest digital payment platform adapting to new technologies and fresh competition? Charlotte Hogg, executive vice president and CEO of its European operations, joins Azeem Azhar to explore the evolving ecosystem of digital payments.
They also discuss:
Why Visa should be seen as a platform-based technology company like Google, despite being an established financial institution.
Why the Visa’s “open network” model demands a level playing field for all participants.
Why an increasingly cashless world is pushing central banks towards digital currencies.
How the payment platform is now enabling settlement in the USDC stablecoin – a cryptocurrency pegged to the U.S. dollar.
@azeem
@exponentialview
Further resources:
“Visa launches suite of AI tools to enable smarter payments” (TechRadar, 2021)
“Central banks get serious on digital currencies” (Financial Times, 2021)
“Bitcoin and the Future of Decentralized Finance” (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.
37 min
June 16, 2021How to Practice Responsible AI
From predictive policing to automated credit scoring, algorithms applied on a massive scale, gone unchecked, represent a serious threat to our society. Dr. Rumman Chowdhury, director of Machine Learning Ethics, Transparency and Accountability at Twitter, joins Azeem Azhar to explore how businesses can practice responsible AI to minimize unintended bias and the risk of harm.
They also discuss:
How you can assess and diagnose bias in unexplainable “black box” algorithms.
Why responsible AI demands top-down organizational change, implementing new metrics and systems of redress.
How Twitter led an audit of its own image-cropping algorithm that was alleged to bias white faces over people of color.
The emerging field of “Responsible Machine Learning Operations” (MLOps).
@ruchowdh
@azeem
@exponentialview
Further resources:
“Sharing learnings about our image cropping algorithm” (Twitter Blog, 2021)
“As AI develops, so does the debate over profits and ethics” (Financial Times, 2021)
“It’s time for AI ethics to grow up” (Wired, 2020)
“Auditing Algorithms for Bias” (Harvard Business Review, 2018)
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.
50 min
June 09, 2021The Coming AI Hackers
AI hackers are coming, and it’s not just our computer networks at risk – our laws and regulations are also vulnerable. Bruce Schneier, internationally renowned security technologist and fellow at Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society, joins Azeem Azhar to explore how humans have always exploited loopholes in rule-based systems, and how that will change as AIs become more powerful.
They also discuss:
Why making AI systems easier to monitor and regulate also makes them less powerful.
Why we need mechanisms for agile policy response when legislation and regulation get hacked.
Why AI hackers might end up benefiting system designers and cyber-defenses in the long run.
@schneierblog
@azeem
@exponentialview
Further resources:
“Cybersecurity in the Age of AI” (Exponential View podcast, 2019)
“The Coming AI Hackers” (Belfer Centre report by Bruce Schneier, 2021)
“Why Was SolarWinds So Vulnerable to a Hack?” (New York Times, 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.
38 min
June 02, 2021Banking without Banks: Decentralized Finance is Coming
Could we have a financial industry without banks or brokers? That’s the vision of decentralized finance – or DeFi – in which financial products are built from tamper-proof digital smart contracts interacting with blockchains. Sergey Nazarov, co-founder of Chainlink, joins Azeem Azhar to explore the promise of this emerging sector to bring greater transparency, control, and yield for both customers and businesses.
They also discuss:
How blockchains and smart contracts work together to reconfigure the fundamentals of finance, as we currently experience it.
Why the outrage felt by Robinhood users (when trading in GameStop was paused) reveals an underlying weakness in traditional finance.
What blockchain oracles are, and how Chainlink is using them to build the decentralized infrastructure that will enable the widespread adoption of DeFi products and cryptocurrencies.
@SergeyNazarov
@azeem
@exponentialview
“Bitcoin and the Future of Decentralized Finance” (Exponential View podcast with Meltem Demirors, 2021)
“DeFi Can ‘Transform Global Finance’” (Decrypt, 2021)
“What Is Chainlink and Why Is It Important in the World of Cryptocurrency?” (Yahoo Finance, 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.
49 min
May 26, 2021AI’s Competitive Advantage
AI can offer a new type of competitive advantage, but entrepreneurs need to know what it is and how to unlock it. Ash Fontana, author of The AI First Company and managing director at Zetta Venture Partners – a firm that exclusively invests in early-stage AI startups, joins Azeem Azhar to explore the risks and rewards of applying AI to business problems.
They also discuss:
Why the high up-front cost of developing AI models favors multi-sector businesses.
Which is more important for an AI-focused company: domain expertise or AI expertise?
How AI startups should assess the risk of being usurped by Big Tech.
Why Amazon’s sophisticated AI regularly offers nonsensical recommendations.
@ashfontana
@azeem
@exponentialview
“Creating an AI-First Business with Andrew Ng” (Exponential View podcast, 2019)
“Businesses are finding AI hard to adopt” (The Economist, 2020)
“Competing in the Age of AI” (Harvard Business Review, 2020)
The AI First Company: How to Compete and Win With Artificial Intelligence (Ash Fontana, 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.
58 min
May 20, 2021Building a Trustworthy Market for Carbon Offsets: Part 2
Using forests to offset a company’s carbon emissions has been dismissed as “greenwashing.” But Diego Saez Gil argues that a verifiable and transparent global market in carbon credits is a vital tool to mitigate climate change. In part 2 of their discussion, he joins Azeem Azhar to explore how his company, Pachama, uses technology to connect farmers and ecologists with climate-conscious corporations in an effort to evolve the global carbon marketplace.
They also discuss:
Why companies need offsets to achieve their climate goals.
Why carbon offsets should be used only after emission-reducing changes have been maximized.
How properly calibrated carbon pricing can incentivize climate-conscious economic activity.
@dsaezgil
@azeem
@ExponentialView
Further resources:
“IKEA: Making a $40 Billion Company Climate Positive” (Exponential View podcast, 2020)
“The merits of a global carbon offset market” (Financial Times, 2020)
“Do Carbon Offsets Really Work? It Depends on the Details” (Wired, 2020)
“The Economics of Biodiversity: The Dasgupta Review” (HM Treasury, UK Government, 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.
34 min
May 19, 2021Building a Trustworthy Market for Carbon Offsets: Part 1
How do we build a market for carbon offsets that is both trustworthy and effective? Diego Saez Gil, co-founder and CEO of Pachama, believes he has the answer. In part 1 of the conversation, Diego joins Azeem Azhar to explore how AI, satellites, and LiDAR can be leveraged to verify the conservation efforts of farmers, NGOs, and governments and help lay the foundation for sustainable work against climate change.
They also discuss:
How the rapid cycles of a tech startup interact with the slower rhythms of forest ecology.
Why the tropics should be the focus of forest regeneration efforts.
Why the priority should be to achieve a “deep” carbon offset market, which is both a platform of exchange and an assurance of quality.
@dsaezgil
@azeem
@ExponentialView
Further resources:
“How Data Helps Companies Honor Their Climate Goals” (Exponential View podcast, 2021)
“As concerns rise over forest carbon offsets, Pachama’s verified offset marketplace gets $15 million” (TechCrunch, 2021)
“Applying AI To Mitigate The Effects Of Climate Change” (Forbes, 2020)
“The merits of a global carbon offset market” (Financial Times, 2020)
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.
33 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…