Cleo Abram

Human DNA editing is finally here.
Check out the new WHOOP here! https://join.whoop.com/cleo

There is a microscopic technology that now gives us the power to edit our own genes while we’re alive. To cure certain diseases, possibly prevent others, or boost what our bodies can do… or maybe, one day give our kids abilities no one has ever had before… effectively putting evolution into our hands.

This is not some sci-fi future! We’re already using this technology in real medical treatments in plants to grow new crops and in animals to create new species!

Just yesterday, news broke that a baby’s life was saved using personalized gene editing that fixed one tiny error in its DNA. This is truly “huge if true.”

Deciding how we use this new superpower may be the biggest challenge we have ever faced - and the biggest opportunity to reduce human suffering.

This tool is called CRISPR. Dr. Jennifer Doudna won the Nobel Prize for discovering it.

So, in this third episode of Huge Conversations, Dr. Doudna and I use specific examples to help you see how gene editing directly affects your life right now - and help you decide for yourself: How should we use it? When is it wrong - and when is it wrong NOT to?

If you want to know what the most important people building the future are imagining it will look like, Huge Conversations is the show for you.

This interview was recorded on March 20th, 2025.

Watch our trailer to understand more about the mission of Huge Conversations: https://youtu.be/JbKzSDfDdns?si=0PLbyG-RkFGqi9jQ

Chapters:
0:00 Human DNA editing is here
1:20 What’s the goal here?
2:56 What is CRISPR?
4:34 How does gene editing work?
6:18 How should humans edit our genes?
7:22 You v. your kids
9:37 The first CRISPR gene therapy
12:37 What can CRISPR cure?
13:48 Challenges with delivery
16:34 Curing Huntington’s
18:34 The first CRISPR-edited babies
22:27 When should we use CRISPR?
26:03 Can I edit my DNA to prevent disease?
29:18 Can I enhance myself?
31:11 When shouldn’t we use CRISPR?
34:14 When don’t you need DNA edits?
36:32 Superpowers??
38:17 How should we edit plants and animals?
42:57 The funniest CRISPR gene edit is really useful
45:37 Editing our own microbiome
48:28 The bigger picture
50:16 What Dr. Doudna is excited about now

You can find me on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/cleoabram
On TikTok here: https://www.tiktok.com/@cleoabram
Or on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/cleoabram

Additional reading and watching:
- Dr. Doudna's book, A Crack In Creation: Gene Editing and the Unthinkable Power to Control Evolution: https://www.harpercollins.com/products/a-crack-in-creation-jennifer-a-doudnasamuel-h-sternberg?variant=40828378152994
- Baby Is Healed With World’s First Personalized Gene-Editing Treatment, New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/15/health/gene-editing-personalized-rare-disorders.html
- CRISPR Explained, Mayo Clinic https://youtu.be/UKbrwPL3wXE?si=FIGuEQdycVfGQR-k
- Biologist Explains CRISPR, WIRED https://youtu.be/sweN8d4_MUg?si=-mlG8CXx1OjTdhmr
- How CRISPR lets us edit our DNA, Jennifer Doudna, TED: https://youtu.be/TdBAHexVYzc?si=6C96AyPktzrG0d9q
- CRISPR's Next Advance Is Bigger Than You Think, Jennifer Doudna, TED: https://youtu.be/HANo__Z8K6s?si=ogZMk9JZgoegntjs

Bio:
Cleo Abram is a video journalist who produces Huge If True, an optimistic show about science and technology. Huge If True is an antidote to the doom and gloom, helping a wide audience see better futures they can help build. In each episode, Cleo dives deep into one innovation that could shape the future. She has explored humanoid robots at Boston Dynamics, supersonic planes at NASA, quantum computers at IBM, the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, and more. Every episode mixes high quality animations and detailed scripts with relatable vlog-style journeys, taking the audience along for an adventure to answer

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What if we could actually USE nuclear waste?
Subscribe if you love optimistic science and tech stories...

Watch Johnny’s explainer on nuclear power here - and subscribe to his channel! https://youtu.be/QzTgZ6kOEM8

Nuclear waste is scary. Maybe you’ve seen it as glowing green goop in The Simpsons, or as a radioactive threat on the news. Either way, you likely know it has been a major block to the use and improvement of nuclear power. Over the last few decades, experts, politicians and the public have had heated debates over what to do with this radioactive material created by nuclear power plants.

But what if there were a way to not just store nuclear waste, but actually USE it?

This video is about the effort to make electricity out of nuclear waste. Really. It turns out, we developed the tools to do this decades ago. This story is about a technology we left behind and the people who want to bring it back.

For this video, I had the privilege of visiting one of the largest and oldest research centers in the US, the Argonne National Laboratory. I’m incredibly grateful to the researchers and staff I met there, and for their time in showing me their work. I also had the opportunity to speak with representatives from Oklo, a company working on new forms of nuclear power, including recycling nuclear waste as fuel. One of the best parts of making Huge If True is meeting and learning from people pushing what we can do in the hopes of improving the world for everyone else.

Chapters:
00:00 Nuclear waste isn’t what I thought
02:21 How I got obsessed
03:27 How much energy is in nuclear waste?
06:20 How do you get electricity?
06:50 What is uranium?
07:28 How does a nuclear reaction work?
08:05 Why is nuclear waste dangerous?
08:40 What do we do with nuclear waste?
09:35 How do you make electricity from nuclear waste?
11:21 Why doesn’t the US reuse nuclear fuel?
12:20 Is recycling waste feasible?
13:41 What is Huge If True?

Corrections:
07:09 The number refers to the total number of nucleons (either a proton or a neutron) in the atom, not the neutrons alone. A U-235 atom contains 92 protons and 143 neutrons (an atomic mass of 235). The U-238 atom also has 92 protons but has 146 neutrons (an atomic mass of 238). I should have said these *differ* by the number of neutrons in the atom. Thanks to the commenters who pointed this out!

You can find me on TikTok here for short, fun tech explainers: https://www.tiktok.com/@cleoabram
You can find me on Instagram here for more personal stories: https://www.instagram.com/cleoabram
You can find me on Twitter here for thoughts, threads and curated news: https://twitter.com/cleoabram

Bio:
Cleo Abram is an Emmy-nominated independent video journalist. On her show, Huge If True, Cleo explores complex technology topics with rigor and optimism, helping her audience understand the world around them and see positive futures they can help build. Before going independent, Cleo was a video producer for Vox. She wrote and directed the Coding and Diamonds episodes of Vox’s Netflix show, Explained. She produced videos for Vox’s popular YouTube channel, was the host and senior producer of Vox’s first ever daily show, Answered, and was co-host and producer of Vox’s YouTube Originals show, Glad You Asked.

Additional reading and watching:
- Johnny’s video on nuclear power: https://youtu.be/QzTgZ6kOEM8
- My previous video for Vox on nuclear reactors shutting down: https://youtu.be/KC7YD98HixM
- “The Nuclear Waste Problem” by Wendover Productions: https://youtu.be/uU3kLBo_ruo
- “Nuclear Waste: What Do We Do With It?” by Sabine Hossenfelder: https://youtu.be/aDUvCLAp0uU
- “What Happens to Nuclear Waste?” by The Infographics Show: https://youtu.be/imsRLscqTW0
- “Nuclear Waste Is Manageable. We Just Have To Do It.” by Joe Scott https://youtu.be/96et8ZGsxJY
- “Finland Might Have Solved Nuclear Power’s Biggest

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Black holes reveal something astonishing about our universe.
Take your personal data back with Incogni. Use code CLEOABRAM at the link below and get 60% off an annual plan: http://incogni.com/cleoabram

This extended cut is a deep dive into cutting edge research about black holes. It’s an interview with famous physicist Dr. Brian Cox. We start with “what if you fell into a black hole?” and end on the cutting edge research that had me questioning my whole reality.

I interviewed Dr. Cox originally for a shorter Huge If True episode all about what would happen if you fell into a black hole.

Watch our Huge If True episode about “What If You Fell Into A Black Hole?” here: https://youtu.be/BKIkTKqWMfg?si=bTde4QxUeN6bN1Io

But there was SO much weird and mind bending stuff about the cutting edge of black holes that didn't fit into that shorter episode, and we knew you'd want to hear it. So we decided we had to release the full conversation. It's just too cool and I think you'll love it.

Now, strap in, because the cutting edge of black holes is absolutely WILD.

As always, if you want more optimistic science and tech stories, subscribe to support Huge If True.

Chapters
00:00 What really is a black hole?
04:02 Warping space and time
8:08 Whats inside a black hole?
10:04 Photo of Sagittarius A*
13:03 How big are black holes?
15:19 How small are black holes?
19:37 Passing through the event horizon
23:45 Two perspectives
25:00 Spaghettification
29:22 You see this on Earth
31:08 Can we get out? Maybe!
34:04 The central question
38:08 What bothered everybody
42:07 Information encoded in pixels?
46:22 Black hole complementarity
51:30 Holographic principle
55:00 It’s hard for us
56:17 The universe as a network of qubits
57:08 Why black holes teach us so much
1:00:15 The firewall paradox
1:05:59 Are we living on the outside of a black hole?
1:07:55 Impacts on quantum computers
1:10:05 Why study black holes?

You can find me on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/cleoabram
On TikTok here: https://www.tiktok.com/@cleoabram
Or on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/cleoabram

Bio:
Cleo Abram is an Emmy-nominated independent video journalist. On her show, Huge If True, Cleo explores complex technology topics with rigor and optimism, helping her audience understand the world around them and see positive futures they can help build. Before going independent, Cleo was a video producer for Vox. She wrote and directed the Coding and Diamonds episodes of Vox’s Netflix show, Explained. She produced videos for Vox’s popular YouTube channel, was the host and senior producer of Vox’s first ever daily show, Answered, and was co-host and producer of Vox’s YouTube Originals show, Glad You Asked.

Additional reading and watching:
- “What If You Fell Into A Black Hole?” Huge If True: https://youtu.be/BKIkTKqWMfg?si=bTde4QxUeN6bN1Io
- Black Holes Explained – From Birth to Death, Kurzgesagt: https://youtu.be/e-P5IFTqB98?si=wFZijDyvIk-B2rG-
- How Gravity Actually Works, Veritasium: https://youtu.be/XRr1kaXKBsU?si=ZsvnUR4NwiAPZgvi
- Brian Cox on how black holes could unlock the mysteries of our universe, Big Think: https://youtu.be/pGsbEd6w7PI?si=HysqaVGkVHyoyNLC
- Travel Inside A Black Hole, VSauce: https://youtu.be/3pAnRKD4raY?si=9aA96AYZta4pZxsx
- Brian Cox, Joe Rogan Interview: https://youtu.be/Rc7OHXJtWco?si=eaQjo7kxx4OiFoux
- Do black holes explode? Nature: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-00768-4
- The Most Famous Paradox in Physics Nears Its End, Quanta Magazine: https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-most-famous-paradox-in-physics-nears-its-end-20201029/

Vox: https://www.vox.com/authors/cleo-abram
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm10108242/

Gear I use:
Camera: Sony A7SIII
Lens: Sony 16–35 mm F2.8 GM
Audio: Sennheiser SK AVX and Zoom H4N Pro

Music: Musicbed, Tom Fox

Follow along for more episodes of Huge If True: https://www.yout

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Should psychedelics be legal?
Subscribe for optimistic tech and science stories!

You might be hearing about states and countries legalizing psychedelics. In 2020, Oregon became the first US state to decriminalize psilocybin and legalize it for therapeutic use. In 2022, Colorado followed suit. Researchers have recently been touting the benefits of psychedelics for health conditions like depression, anxiety, PTSD, addiction, cancer-related distress, and the list goes on. However - like cannabis - psilocybin is still illegal under US federal law.

Given that ongoing fight, you might have questions. I know I do. Are psychedelics the next weed? Is that a good thing? Are psychedelics dangerous? Do they actually have scientific benefits? How do psychedelics work? In this episode of Huge If True, we find out.

Thank you to Dr. Ben Rein, neuroscience researcher and consultant on this episode. If you enjoy Huge If True, you’ll love Dr. Rein’s videos on TikTok! https://www.tiktok.com/@dr.brein?lang=en

Chapters:
00:00 The big debate about psychedelics
02:16 What are psychedelics?
03:35 What do psychedelics do?
05:47 The history of psychedelics
06:46 The War on Drugs
09:09 New research on psychedelics
10:05 How do psychedelics work?
11:09 Psychedelics for PTSD and depression
12:21 Are psychedelics legal?
14:10 Why psychedelics are huge if true
15:15 What is Huge If True?

You can find me on TikTok here for short, fun tech explainers: https://www.tiktok.com/@cleoabram
You can find me on Instagram here for more personal stories: https://www.instagram.com/cleoabram
You can find me on Twitter here for thoughts, threads and curated news: https://twitter.com/cleoabram

Bio:
Cleo Abram is an Emmy-nominated independent video journalist. On her show, Huge If True, Cleo explores complex technology topics with rigor and optimism, helping her audience understand the world around them and see positive futures they can help build. Before going independent, Cleo was a video producer for Vox. She wrote and directed the Coding and Diamonds episodes of Vox’s Netflix show, Explained. She produced videos for Vox’s popular YouTube channel, was the host and senior producer of Vox’s first ever daily show, Answered, and was co-host and producer of Vox’s YouTube Originals show, Glad You Asked.

Additional reading and watching:
- Psychedelic Legalization and Decriminalization Tracker: https://psychedelicalpha.com/data/psychedelic-laws
- The Accidental Discovery of LSD, The Atlantic: https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/09/the-accidental-discovery-of-lsd/379564/
- Psilocybin effects in patients with life-threatening cancer, Journal of Psychopharmacology: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5367557/
- MDMA effects on PTSD, Nature: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-021-01336-3
- Psilocybin fMRI-measured brain mechanisms, Scientific Reports: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-13282-7
- The real risks of psychedelics, explained by an expert | Dr. Matthew Johnson: https://youtu.be/ISM9OeWs7yw
- The “heroic dose” of psychedelics, according to Johns Hopkins | Dr. Matthew Johnson https://youtu.be/HGqFxjQI3is
- How psychedelics work, explained in under 6 minutes | Matthew Johnson https://youtu.be/yS9FBB19Ws0
- Ayahuasca, by VSauce https://youtu.be/U3lWVLuc6CE
- Expert Answers Psychedelics Questions From Twitter (ft. Michael Pollan) | Tech Support | WIRED https://youtu.be/IBLnSl8Q1NQ
- The Therapy Part of Psychedelic Therapy Is a Mess, Wired: https://www.wired.com/story/psychedelic-therapy-mess/

Vox: https://www.vox.com/authors/cleo-abram
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm10108242/

Gear I use:
Camera: Sony A7SIII
Lens: Sony 16–35 mm F2.8 GM and 35mm prime
Audio: Sennheiser SK AVX

Music: Musicbed and Tom Fox

Follow along for more episodes of Huge If True: https://www.youtube.com/cleoabram?sub_confirmation=1

—
Welcome to t

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What’s really happening inside a black hole?
Go to http://hostinger.com/cleo for 10% off using code CLEO

Imagine that you’re flying through space, when suddenly you start to get dragged toward a dark abyss. Reality as you know it starts to change. Time begins to warp. And you start to feel this strange sort of sensation of being stretched and squashed…

You’re falling into a black hole, one of the most astonishing places in our universe. Some are so big they can fit over 60 of our solar systems across them, with masses up to 100 billion times our Sun. And once you fall into one past a certain point, nothing can escape.

... Or can it?

I wanted to know the latest cutting edge research about black holes, so I called up my favorite physicist, Dr. Brian Cox to answer the question: If you fell into a black hole, what would actually happen to you? What would it feel like? And what does our newest science tell us is really happening inside a black hole?

Chapters:
0:00 What if you fall into a black hole?
1:20 What is a black hole, really?
2:20 How do we find black holes?
3:17 What do black holes look like?
4:46 How big are black holes?
6:28 What would it feel like to fall into a black hole?
7:40 What would you see from far away?
9:18 What happens at the event horizon?
10:58 What is spaghettification?
11:58 What is the singularity?
13:00 Can you ever get out of a black hole?
14:00 Wait, that’s weird…
15:00 The black hole information paradox
16:09 The cutting edge of black holes
17:42 Why are black holes so important?

Professor Brian Cox is performing a run of live shows across the US! Check out briancoxlive.co.uk for more information. I can't wait.

You can find me on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/cleoabram
On TikTok here: https://www.tiktok.com/@cleoabram
Or on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/cleoabram

Bio:
Cleo Abram is an Emmy-nominated independent video journalist. On her show, Huge If True, Cleo explores complex technology topics with rigor and optimism, helping her audience understand the world around them and see positive futures they can help build. Before going independent, Cleo was a video producer for Vox. She wrote and directed the Coding and Diamonds episodes of Vox’s Netflix show, Explained. She produced videos for Vox’s popular YouTube channel, was the host and senior producer of Vox’s first ever daily show, Answered, and was co-host and producer of Vox’s YouTube Originals show, Glad You Asked.

Additional reading and watching:
- Black Holes Explained – From Birth to Death, Kurzgesagt: https://youtu.be/e-P5IFTqB98?si=wFZijDyvIk-B2rG-
- How Gravity Actually Works, Veritasium: https://youtu.be/XRr1kaXKBsU?si=ZsvnUR4NwiAPZgvi
- Brian Cox on how black holes could unlock the mysteries of our universe, Big Think: https://youtu.be/pGsbEd6w7PI?si=HysqaVGkVHyoyNLC
- Travel Inside A Black Hole, VSauce: https://youtu.be/3pAnRKD4raY?si=9aA96AYZta4pZxsx
- Brian Cox, Joe Rogan Interview: https://youtu.be/Rc7OHXJtWco?si=eaQjo7kxx4OiFoux
- Do black holes explode? Nature: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-00768-4
- The Most Famous Paradox in Physics Nears Its End, Quanta Magazine: https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-most-famous-paradox-in-physics-nears-its-end-20201029/

Vox: https://www.vox.com/authors/cleo-abram
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm10108242/

Gear I use:
Camera: Sony A7SIII
Lens: Sony 16–35 mm F2.8 GM
Audio: Sennheiser SK AVX and Zoom H4N Pro

Music: Musicbed, Tom Fox

Follow along for more episodes of Huge If True: https://www.youtube.com/cleoabram?sub_confirmation=1

Welcome to the joke down low:

What do you give a black hole?
Some space.

Find a way to use “space” in a comment to let me know you’re a real one who made it to the end of the description :)

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This new tech is changing how movies get made. So @mkbhd and I tested it out...
Subscribe for more optimistic science and tech stories!

Watch MKBHD's video: https://youtu.be/RM7SobH8ZO0
Subscribe to MKBHD: https://www.youtube.com/mkbhd

Subscribe to Huge If True to support optimistic tech content: https://www.youtube.com/cleoabram?sub_confirmation=1

I’ve been obsessed with sci-fi movies since I was a kid. I love being transported to another world. But lately, I’ve been wondering: How do those worlds look so… REAL? The tech behind movies has exploded in complexity and realism, changing how stories come to life on screen.

Luckily, at the same time, those tools are becoming more and more available to more people telling stories. It’s not just blockbusters like Avatar 2 or Avengers or Dune. It’s also smaller budget films like Everything Everywhere All at Once or even… YouTube creators?

In this video, Marques Brownlee and I test out 3 movie-making tools that are changing how movies, shows, and maybe even YouTube videos (??) get made. We’re at ZeroSpace Studios in New York to show you how each of these crazy technologies work - and how you might be able to use them. Along the way, we hit big questions like: What is the future of video? Can actors stop aging? Can WE? Do you care if an actor has a digital double? Should the audience choose where the camera goes? Most of all, what we discover is a new world of video creation, hopefully open to more and more people’s creativity.

Chapters:
00:00 How do movies look so real?
1:18 The future of green screen?
3:31 The problem with green screen
4:33 How was The Mandalorian filmed?
6:11 How to shoot two scenes AT ONCE
8:39 How motion capture works
10:06 Why was Avatar 2 filmed underwater?
11:05 What happens if you can be... anyone?
13:51 What is volumetric video?
15:33 What's the future of video?

Thank you to the entire team who helped make this video possible! They are:
From ZeroSpace:
- Creative Director: Kevin Peter He
- Head of Research: Evan Clark
- Technical Director: Eric Chang
- Producer: Elena Piech
- Mocap Operator: Sammy Sords
- Mocap Asst./ PA: Kimani Reid
- Disguise Asst. / PA: Omar Jones
- 3D Modeler: Maya Lila
- CEO: Jon Kreutzer
- CTO: James Tunick
From 4Wall Entertainment (a joint partnership on the XR/ICVFX Stage):
- VP of Special Projects: Ben Danielowski
- VP of Special Projects: Mathew Leland
- L1: Zach Sager
From Scatter Depthkit (a joint partnership on the volumetric video):
- CEO and Co-Founder of Scatter, creators of Depthkit: James George
- Lead Technical Producer: Cory Allen
From Cause + Christi Immersive XR Design:
- Co-Founder: Austin Caine
- Co-Founder: Christi Fenison
From Scheimpflug:
- Photogrammetry Lead: Joachim Pfefferkorn

You can find me on TikTok here for short, fun tech explainers: https://www.tiktok.com/@cleoabram
You can find me on Instagram here for more personal stories: https://www.instagram.com/cleoabram
You can find me on Twitter here for thoughts, threads and curated news: https://twitter.com/cleoabram

Bio:
Cleo Abram is an Emmy-nominated independent video journalist. On her show, Huge If True, Cleo explores complex technology topics with rigor and optimism, helping her audience understand the world around them and see positive futures they can help build. Before going independent, Cleo was a video producer for Vox. She wrote and directed the Coding and Diamonds episodes of Vox’s Netflix show, Explained. She produced videos for Vox’s popular YouTube channel, was the host and senior producer of Vox’s first ever daily show, Answered, and was co-host and producer of Vox’s YouTube Originals show, Glad You Asked.

Additional reading and watching:
- ZeroSpace Studios: https://www.zerospace.co/
- Scatter Depthkit Volumetric Video: https://www.depthkit.tv/
- Cause + Christi: Immersive XR Design: https://causechristi.com
- Quantum Computers, exp

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I tested Disney’s coolest new tech…
Go to https://surfshark.com/cleo for 4 extra months of Surfshark

Today I’ve been invited behind the scenes at Walt Disney Imagineering, the place where Disney brings their craziest ideas to life - from STUNT ROBOTS to a real life version of The Force, to adorable little droids!

On this show Huge If True, we explore how tech can improve people’s lives - by living longer, going farther, doing more. But the reason I’ve loved Disney since I was a kid is they use tech to improve lives another way… by making people happy. And that means they end up pushing forward tech in some crazy, unexpected ways.

So let me take you inside the magic, to show you the cutting edge tech they’re building… how it works… and what happens when we put it to the test!

Chapters:
0:00 What is Disney building next?
1:11 What does Walt Disney Imagineering do?
1:52 What are Disney’s new droids really like?
2:47 How do Disney’s new droids work?
5:08 What’s the world’s most realistic lightsaber?
6:17 How do Disney’s lightsabers work?
8:05 How do you make The Force real?
9:53 How does Disney’s holotile work?
11:59 What will Disney use holotile for?
12:48 How does Disney use robot stunt doubles?
13:57 Special guests!!
15:54 Why is Disney tech huge if true?
16:15 :)

You can find me on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/cleoabram
On TikTok here: https://www.tiktok.com/@cleoabram
Or on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/cleoabram

Bio:
Cleo Abram is an Emmy-nominated independent video journalist. On her show, Huge If True, Cleo explores complex technology topics with rigor and optimism, helping her audience understand the world around them and see positive futures they can help build. Before going independent, Cleo was a video producer for Vox. She wrote and directed the Coding and Diamonds episodes of Vox’s Netflix show, Explained. She produced videos for Vox’s popular YouTube channel, was the host and senior producer of Vox’s first ever daily show, Answered, and was co-host and producer of Vox’s YouTube Originals show, Glad You Asked.

Additional reading and watching:
- I Tried A Disney Secret Project! Marques Brownlee https://youtu.be/1KEtxTQUzxY?si=Ovb2gpeoxbzlTTWN
- Inside Disney’s ‘Area 51,’ Where Lightsabers and Other Tech Are Invented, WSJ https://youtu.be/9miiL-nb1bY?si=i180AST_ok4sNM_P
- Pick, Carry, Place, Repeat | Inside the Lab with Atlas, Boston Dynamics https://youtu.be/v8UaiRgqvlc?si=Z3LU0pkhdCrUps6i
- Duke Weaselton pushes his own way to the top, Walt Disney Imagineering https://youtu.be/VFNruidzlZw?si=-2U1ft0TA7x8RrSa
- A New Approach to Disney’s Robotic Character Pipeline, Walt Disney Imagineering https://youtu.be/-cfIm06tcfA?si=1LXHwcc5EvIMpvN_
- Droids in Training: Imagineers Conduct Playtest at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, Walt Disney Imagineering https://youtu.be/qNfRgZMWyCI?si=K6EujeGkKEcl5-pP
- How Disney Designed a Robotic Spider-Man, WIRED https://youtu.be/oyXl3IhonRM?si=93IQjc9mJvMK8BS5
- Disney Imagineers Develop Cutting-edge, Free-roaming Robotic Actor, Walt Disney Imagineering https://youtu.be/EdDJ77uDwWQ?si=A_I7abl3eVCdI3TK
- Disney Imagineering has created autonomous robot stunt doubles, TechCrunch https://youtu.be/ENa98h7M7qY?si=1M7Z5C3XDWQiELM5

Vox: https://www.vox.com/authors/cleo-abram
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm10108242/

Gear I use:
Camera: Sony A7SIII
Lens: Sony 16–35 mm F2.8 GM
Audio: Sennheiser SK AVX and Zoom H4N Pro

Music: Musicbed, Tom Fox

Follow along for more episodes of Huge If True: https://www.youtube.com/cleoabram?sub_confirmation=1

—
Welcome to the joke down low:

Why’s it so hard to tell a good Star Wars joke? They all feel forced.

Find a way to use “force” in a comment to let me know you’re a real one who made it to the end of the description :)

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AI is here. Now what?
Subscribe to support optimistic tech journalism!

Everyone’s talking about artificial intelligence and machine learning. There are lots of names thrown around - OpenAI’s ChatGPT and DALLE-2, Google’s Bard, Meta’s LLaMa 2, Midjourney, AlphaFold…

Right now, we’re in this weird moment where lots of smart people agree we’re on the cusp of a truly world-changing technology. But some seem to be saying it's going to lead to human extinction while others are saying it’s “more profound than fire.”

But it all feels so VAGUE.

I want to know: How specifically would AI kill me? Or totally transform my life for the better? In this video, that’s what I’m going to try to learn. We dive into what the most extreme bad and good AI futures actually look like, so that you and I can get ready. And more importantly, so we can make sure that we get our real future RIGHT.

Chapters:
00:00 Why is AI so confusing?
1:13 What is AI?
2:37 Why is everyone talking about AI now?
5:12 Why is AI dangerous?
6:22 How would AI kill me?
8:08 Should we pause AI?
9:12 Why do we WANT AI?
10:30 What has AI already done?
11:27 Why is AI so hard to talk about?

You can find me on TikTok here for short, fun tech explainers: https://www.tiktok.com/@cleoabram
You can find me on Instagram here for more personal stories: https://www.instagram.com/cleoabram
You can find me on Twitter here for thoughts, threads and curated news: https://twitter.com/cleoabram

Bio:
Cleo Abram is an Emmy-nominated independent video journalist. On her show, Huge If True, Cleo explores complex technology topics with rigor and optimism, helping her audience understand the world around them and see positive futures they can help build. Before going independent, Cleo was a video producer for Vox. She wrote and directed the Coding and Diamonds episodes of Vox’s Netflix show, Explained. She produced videos for Vox’s popular YouTube channel, was the host and senior producer of Vox’s first ever daily show, Answered, and was co-host and producer of Vox’s YouTube Originals show, Glad You Asked.

Additional reading and watching:
- Statement on AI Risk: https://www.safe.ai/statement-on-ai-risk
- AI and compute, by OpenAI: https://openai.com/research/ai-and-compute
- Mythbusters Demo: CPU v. GPU https://youtu.be/-P28LKWTzrI
- 2022 Expert Survey on Progress in AI https://aiimpacts.org/2022-expert-survey-on-progress-in-ai/
- Introduction to protein folding for physicists https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/36046451.pdf
- AlphaFold reveals the structure of the protein universe, By DeepMind https://www.deepmind.com/blog/alphafold-reveals-the-structure-of-the-protein-universe
- But what is a neural network? By 3Blue1Brown https://youtu.be/aircAruvnKk
- How Far is Too Far? The Age of AI https://youtu.be/UwsrzCVZAb8
- Artificial Intelligence, by Last Week Tonight with John Oliver https://youtu.be/Sqa8Zo2XWc4
- The AI revolution: Google's developers on the future of artificial intelligence, by 60 Minutes https://youtu.be/880TBXMuzmk
- How smart is today’s artificial intelligence? By Joss Fong (2017) https://youtu.be/IJKjMIU55pE

Vox: https://www.vox.com/authors/cleo-abram
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm10108242/

Gear I use:
Camera: Sony A7SIII
Lens: Sony 16–35 mm F2.8 GM and 35mm prime
Audio: Sennheiser SK AVX

Music: Musicbed

Follow along for more episodes of Huge If True: https://www.youtube.com/cleoabram?sub_confirmation=1

—
Welcome to the joke down low:

This time, I asked GPT4 for an AI related joke. They were mostly TERRIBLE. Like:

"Why don't AIs play hide and seek?"
"They always find you in 0.001 seconds!"

Finally, it gave me:

"Why did the AI go to the gym?"
"It wanted to work on its 'training set'!"

… Good enough.

Use the word “training” in a comment to let me know you read to the end :)

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What NVIDIA is trying to build next…
Subscribe for more optimistic science and tech stories from our show Huge If True.

You're probably hearing a lot about AI, DeepSeek, NVIDIA and more right now. If you want the big picture (and to start from the beginning), watch this Huge Conversation with NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang.

In the last few years, NVIDIA has skyrocketed to become one of the world's most valuable companies. That's because, beginning in the 90s, they led a fundamental shift in how computers work, now unleashing the current explosion of what’s possible with technology.

A huge amount of the most futuristic tech you’re hearing about - in AI, robotics, gaming, self-driving cars, breakthrough medical research - relies on new chips and software designed by him and his company.

During the dozens of background interviews I did to prepare for this, what struck me most was how much Jensen Huang has already influenced all our lives over the last 30 years, and how many are saying it’s just the beginning of something even bigger…

We all need to know what he’s building and why, and most importantly, what he’s trying to build next, so you can decide for yourself what you think of it.

Welcome to the second episode of our new series, Huge Conversations…

If you want to know what the most important people building the future are imagining it will look like, Huge Conversations is the show for you.

This interview was recorded at CES in Las Vegas on January 7th, 2025.

Watch our first episode of Huge Conversations with Mark Zuckerberg here: https://youtu.be/oX7OduG1YmI?si=mMTesn2gvBeRJmos

Watch our trailer to understand more about the mission of Huge Conversations: https://youtu.be/JbKzSDfDdns?si=0PLbyG-RkFGqi9jQ

Chapters:
0:00 What is Jensen Huang trying to build?
1:40 The goal of this Huge Conversation
3:40 How did we get here?
4:25 What is a GPU?
5:45 Why video games first?
7:59 What is CUDA?
11:04 Why was AlexNet such a big deal?
15:40 Why are we hearing about AI so much now?
19:33 What are NVIDIA’s core beliefs?
21:34 Why does this moment feel so different?
24:08 What’s the future of robots?
30:15 What is Jensen’s 10-year vision?
32:00 What are the biggest concerns?
35:14 What are the biggest limitations?
38:05 How does NVIDIA make big bets on specific chips (transformers)?
42:33 How are chips made?
44:19 What’s Jensen’s next bet?
47:20 How should people prepare for this future?
50:12 How does this affect people’s jobs?
52:37 GeForce RTX 50 Series and NVIDIA DGX
55:50 What’s Jensen’s advice for the future?
59:07 How does Jensen want to be remembered?

You can find me on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/cleoabram
On TikTok here: https://www.tiktok.com/@cleoabram
Or on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/cleoabram

Bio:
Cleo Abram is a video journalist who produces Huge If True, an optimistic show about science and technology. Huge If True is an antidote to the doom and gloom, helping a wide audience see better futures they can help build. In each episode, Cleo dives deep into one innovation that could shape the future. She has explored humanoid robots at Boston Dynamics, supersonic planes at NASA, quantum computers at IBM, the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, and more. Every episode mixes high quality animations and detailed scripts with relatable vlog-style journeys, taking the audience along for an adventure to answer the question: If this works, what could go right? Previously, Cleo was a video producer at Vox and directed for Explained on Netflix. She was the host of Vox’s first ever daily show, Answered, as well as co-host of Vox’s YouTube Originals show, Glad You Asked.

Vox: https://www.vox.com/authors/cleo-abram
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm10108242/

—
Welcome to the joke down low:

Why does a GPU without CUDA wear glasses?
Because it can’t C!

If you don’t get this joke yet, watch the rest of the episod

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Are AI referees ruining sports? Or making them better?
Subscribe to if you appreciate optimistic tech journalism.

If you’re watching the 2023 US Open, you’re seeing automated referee calls. After years of controversy about human accuracy, tennis has used a system called Hawkeye to not only check human calls… but now to replace human referees. And this robot ref revolution isn’t just happening in tennis. It’s taking over the sports world. Soccer, basketball, baseball, they are all using machines to improve the calls being made on the field. The World Cup in particular has invested in these tools, from VAR (video assistant referee) to semi-automated offside and goal-line technology.

The stakes are high. The difference between a right or wrong call can be a championship, or millions of dollars in prizes, endorsements, ticket sales. For the most part, fans like tech that makes calls more objective. HOWEVER… there is a big chunk of sports fans who would strongly disagree, who think that robot refs are ruining the game.

Thing is, this tech isn’t going back in the bottle! Stadiums are now being decked out with dozens of cameras that can track balls, people, and even use AI to make calls so accurate that one day human refs might be a thing of the past…

Chapters:
00:00 How tennis started a robot ref takeover
00:50 Soccer, basketball, and baseball automating refs
01:53 High tech World Cup balls
02:17 Semi-automated offsides technology
02:58 Video assistant referee (VAR)
04:25 Why some fans HATE robot referees
05:17 Do these tools remove human nuance?
06:27 Why some fans LOVE robot referees
07:02 How Hawkeye works in tennis
07:40 NBA and MLB announcements
08:14 Why these tools are huge if true

I talked about this episode with @mkbhd on the @Waveform podcast here: https://youtu.be/fmIvzU115y0?si=4FbSeNZFU4sAOBER

You can find me on TikTok here for short, fun tech explainers: https://www.tiktok.com/@cleoabram
You can find me on Instagram here for more personal stories: https://www.instagram.com/cleoabram
You can find me on Twitter here for thoughts, threads and curated news: https://twitter.com/cleoabram

Bio:
Cleo Abram is an Emmy-nominated independent video journalist. On her show, Huge If True, Cleo explores complex technology topics with rigor and optimism, helping her audience understand the world around them and see positive futures they can help build. Before going independent, Cleo was a video producer for Vox. She wrote and directed the Coding and Diamonds episodes of Vox’s Netflix show, Explained. She produced videos for Vox’s popular YouTube channel, was the host and senior producer of Vox’s first ever daily show, Answered, and was co-host and producer of Vox’s YouTube Originals show, Glad You Asked.

Additional reading and watching:
- Semi-automated offside technology, FIFA: https://www.fifa.com/technical/football-technology/football-technologies-and-innovations-at-the-fifa-world-cup-2022/semi-automated-offside-technology
- Video assistant referee, FIFA: https://www.fifa.com/technical/football-technology/football-technologies-and-innovations-at-the-fifa-world-cup-2022/video-assistant-referee-var
- The TRUTH behind Hawk Eye Accuracy, by Cult Tennis: https://youtu.be/ot3GGJ3tWbw?si=0XJTbjkEFODD-aZV
- How the World Cup’s AI instant replay works, by Vox: https://youtu.be/C164kYMGV1A?si=ataWZyJ2jsWYf4Ql
- Breaking down Goal-Line Technology, by FIFA: https://youtu.be/m17ERc-kQhQ?si=R80YH_7U81n8I_SX
- Automated Line Calls Will Replace Human Judges at U.S. Open, New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/03/sports/tennis/us-open-hawkeye-line-judges.html
- At the U.S. Open, line judges are out. Automated calls are in., NPR: https://www.npr.org/2022/09/10/1121801484/us-open-tennis-human-line-judges-replaced
- Hawk-Eye Innovations and MLB Introduce Next-Gen Baseball Tracking and Analytics Platform: https://pro.sony/ue_US/

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