with Brooks Canavesi (Baryons)

Episode Summary

This week, Myles Biggs and Patrick Patterson sit down with Brooks Canavesi, serial entrepreneur, technologist, and co-founder of Baryons, an AI company building personal mentors designed to help people flourish. Brooks shares his journey from competitive athlete and founder to a wilderness rehab turning point, and why “good enough isn’t” only works when it’s paired with well-being. We unpack the science of flourishing (PERMA), how Baryons’ voice-first AI uses memory, intention, and post-call processing, and why the goal isn’t more hustle, it’s human agency.

If you’re curious about human-centered AI, personal growth, or building tech that actually helps people live better, this one’s for you.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• Why flourishing beats hustling, and how the PERMA model frames daily choices.
• How a personal AI mentor can surface root causes (not just symptoms) and drive real change.
• Memory that matters: recency/frequency, decay, and context graphs that feel human.
• Dialogue as product: designing questions, “be quiet” modes, and proactive nudges.
• Guardrails & compliance: building safety for students, teams, and B2C users.
• The power of transitions: why moments of change are the best time to adopt a mentor.
• Group Baryon: private, on-meeting insight that later guides each person 1:1.
• What AI can and can’t replace, and how to keep the human in human-centered AI.

Featured Guest

Brooks Canavesi — Co-Founder, Baryons
Serial entrepreneur and technologist focused on human-centered AI. Brooks blends product, engineering, and flourishing science to build voice-first AI mentors that help people and teams grow.

On X: @brookscanavesi
Sign up: https://baryons.com/
LinkTree (all socials): https://linktr.ee/baryons

Learn more

Baryons — Personal AI mentors for work and life: https://baryons.com/

Takeaways for Operators & Leaders

• Start with outcomes for people, not features for models; measure flourishing, not just usage.
• Treat conversation as a UI: craft prompts, toggles (yes/no), and check-ins with intention.
• Build proactive systems: memory, decay, and context so AI shows up with an agenda to help.
• Safety isn’t optional: define escalation paths, compliance checks, and when to stay silent.
• Focus the roadmap: say “no” to assistant sprawl; be the best at a narrow, high-value job.
• Design for transitions (new role, school, parenting, retirement) where impact compounds.

Connect With The Show

• Level Agency – https://www.level.agency/
• Patrick Patterson – https://www.linkedin.com/in/pattersonwork/
• Myles Biggs – https://www.linkedin.com/in/mylesjb

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