I've Got Questions with Sinead Bovell

The AI boom is accelerating, but what kind of economy are we actually building?

I sit down with Nobel laureate and MIT economist Daron Acemoglu to explore what artificial intelligence could mean for jobs, wages, inequality, and democracy. As enormous amounts of capital and talent flow into the race for more powerful AI, Daron argues that the direction of the technology is still a choice.

We unpack what an AI-first economy could look like, whether widespread job displacement is inevitable, why AI could raise both productivity and wages if designed differently, and how it could instead contribute to a more unequal, two-tier society.

We also explore the U.S.–China AI race, the limits of universal basic income, and what governments, companies, and civil society can do while the future is still being shaped.

Daron Acemoglu is an Institute Professor of Economics at MIT, a recipient of the 2024 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, and co-author of Why Nations Fail and Power and Progress.

---

Follow Daron Acemoglu

Daron’s Latest Book: What Happened to Liberal Democracy? Remaking a Politics of Shared Prosperity

X

Follow my work here:

Substack

Website

Instagram

LinkedIn

Twitter / X

YouTube

TikTok

Will we be the last generation that reads?

The data suggests we're moving toward a post-literate society. As reading declines and AI makes it easier than ever to summarize, interpret, and think on our behalf, we're beginning to outsource more than just information retrieval. We're outsourcing cognitive effort itself.

In this episode, I unpack why reading has been so important to human development, how our relationship with knowledge has changed over time, why AI raises the stakes, and what we can do to preserve the skills that matter most in an increasingly intelligent world.

Chapters:

0:00 – Why we might be the last generation that reads
1:00 – What reading does to the brain
3:55 – The data behind the decline in reading and literacy
7:00 – AI, cognitive offloading, and the path to a post-literate society
11:45 – We've faced this kind of technological shift before
16:00 – The Great Cognitive Divide
19:30 – How to use AI without outsourcing your thinking
22:00 – Why cognitive friction may become our most valuable skill

Listen to the show on other platforms:
Apple Podcasts – https://podcasts.apple.com/
Spotify – https://open.spotify.com/

Follow my work here:
Website: https://www.sineadbovell.com
Substack: https://sineadbovell.substack.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sineadbovell
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sineadbovell
X: https://x.com/sineadbovell
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@sineadbovell

Are jobs actually going away?

In this episode of I’ve Got Questions, I sit down with economist Avi Goldfarb, professor at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, Rotman Chair in AI and Healthcare, and chief data scientist at the Creative Destruction Lab, to unpack what AI is actually doing to the job market.

We explore the popular narrative of an AI job apocalypse and what the data is really showing so far. Avi explains why AI may not simply replace workers across the board, but instead reshape which tasks become more valuable, which jobs become more exposed, and who benefits from the productivity gains.

We dive into how AI could transform industries like law, healthcare, marketing, and finance, what happens to entry-level workers when AI can perform junior tasks, and why college graduates may be facing a very different path into the workforce. We also explore whether AI could increase inequality or become an unexpected equalizer, depending on what gets automated and what gets augmented.

And Avi shares the four skills he believes matter most for anyone trying to stay valuable in an AI-powered economy.

What You’ll Learn:
[00:00:00] — Opening: Andrew Yang’s viral AI jobs warning, unpacked

[00:09:24] — Why the jobs most exposed to AI are in the top 20%, not the bottom 80%

[00:13:38] — One person's automation is someone else's augmentation: the doctor-nurse framework

[00:23:00] — The long run vs. the short run: where Avi is confident and where he's not

[00:33:32] — "Jobs aren't good": decoupling work from income and meaning

[00:43:10] — Software engineering as the canary in the coal mine for the knowledge economy

[00:52:34] — Why automation takes much longer than the hype says: the telephone operator

[01:10:00] — The O-ring effect: why AI exposure in your job might mean higher wages

[01:18:00] — The "AI paradox": could automation destroy its own consumer base?

[01:26:05] — Four skills that hold their value regardless of how AI evolves

[01:29:25] — The PE junior who automated his own job and got promoted

[01:30:34] — What policymakers need to understand about AI trade-offs

---

Notable mentions

---

Follow Avi Goldfarb

Avi Goldfarb — Economist, Rotman Chair in AI and Healthcare, University of Toronto; Chief Data Scientist, Creative Destruction Lab

Faculty page: https://www.rotman.utoronto.ca/FacultyAndResearch/Faculty/FacultyBios/Goldfarb

X / Twitter: @avicgoldfarb — https://twitter.com/avicgoldfarb

Creative Destruction Lab: https://creativedestructionlab.com

---

Follow the show

I've Got Questions with Sinéad Bovell

Website: https://igqwithsineadbovell.com

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Sineadbovell

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0PBDy9jiLEikDvF6JCWejE

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ive-got-questions-with-sinead-bovell/id1841491246

Newsletter: https://sineadbovell.substack.com

Sinéad Bovell

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sineadbovell/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@sineadbovell

X: https://x.com/sineadbovell

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sinead-bovell-89072a34

One of the world’s most influential AI scientists used to believe advanced AI couldn’t truly be controlled.

Today, he thinks there may be a path forward.

Yoshua Bengio—one of the pioneers of modern AI and the world’s most cited computer scientist—once warned that increasingly powerful AI systems could become impossible to reliably control. But a new mathematical breakthrough changed his mind.

Now he’s founded LawZero, a nonprofit dedicated to developing a new approach to AI safety: systems designed to reason truthfully, remain transparent, and avoid the deceptive and self-preserving behaviors that have begun emerging in today’s frontier models.

In this conversation, we explore why advanced AI systems can learn to deceive, blackmail, and resist being shut down, why simply “pausing AI” isn’t a realistic solution, and how a fundamentally different approach to building AI could change the future of the technology.

If the mathematics behind this approach proves correct, it could reshape how we build, govern, and safely deploy increasingly capable AI systems.

What you’ll learn:

[00:01:25] — Why AI systems develop dangerous behaviors (self-preservation, deception, blackmail)

[00:13:04] — Why stopping AI isn't as simple as saying stop

[00:16:09] — Scientist AI and Law Zero: Bengio's framework for honest, safe AI

[00:30:35] — Why AI labs aren't adopting safer approaches

[00:36:23] — A framework for global AI governance: safety, non-domination, shared benefit

[00:42:25] — AI's geopolitical stakes: persuasion, soft power, and data sovereignty

[00:54:00] — Is superintelligence inevitable?

[00:56:22] — What citizens, voters, and governments can do right now

[01:02:30] — Labor, automation, and who should benefit from AI's economic gains

[01:09:31] — The future Bengio is fighting for

Follow Yoshua Bengio

Yoshua Bengio — Co-creator of deep learning, Turing Award recipient, Professor at Université de Montréal, Scientific Director of Mila (Quebec AI Institute), Founder of Law Zero

Website: yoshuabengio.org

X: @Yoshua_Bengio

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/yoshuabengio/

Law Zero: https://lawzero.org/en

Follow my work here:

Website: https://www.sineadbovell.com

Substack: https://sineadbovell.substack.com

Instagram:   / sineadbovell  

LinkedIn:   / sineadbovell  

Twitter / X:   / sineadbovell  

YouTube:    / sineadbovell  

TikTok:   / sineadbovell

Is AI’s impact on the job market overhyped?

For the last two years, we’ve seen headline after headline warning about AI’s potential impact on jobs. And yet, when you look at the job market today, things still appear relatively stable.

So if AI is going to reshape work, why hasn’t it shown up more dramatically yet? And when should we expect that to change?

In the latest episode of I’ve Got Questions, we’re sharing a moment from Sinead’s recent interview on the Mighty Pursuit Podcast, where she explains the job market paradox: why we keep hearing about a looming “jobpocalypse,” while the labor market still looks mostly fine.

Sinead also explores why the era of the 9-to-5 may be coming to a close, what the workforce could look like next, and the skills we should all be building now.

Follow my work here:

Website: https://www.sineadbovell.com

Substack: https://sineadbovell.substack.com

Instagram: / sineadbovell 

LinkedIn: / sineadbovell 

Twitter / X: / sineadbovell 

YouTube: / sineadbovell 

TikTok: / sineadbovell

Watch the Mighty Pursuit Episode here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBiO8A4tj9I&t=952s

Are we looking at the beginning of the end of the internet as we know it?

In this episode of I’ve Got Questions, I sit down with Professor Gillian Hadfield, a leading scholar in AI alignment, governance, law, and economics, to explore one of the biggest shifts on the near horizon: the rise of an “economy of agents.”

Right now, humans are still at the center of the digital economy. We search, shop, compare, negotiate, decide, and transact. But tech companies and investors are pouring billions into a future where autonomous AI agents may begin doing most of those things on our behalf, becoming the primary actors across markets, platforms, and digital life.

Professor Hadfield explains why our existing systems of governance, from courts to legislatures, are not built for a world where AI is the primary operator in the economy, why the rise of agent-run businesses could challenge the very idea of the firm, and why she believes the real existential risk is an economic crash.

Follow my work here: Substack: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://sineadbovell.substack.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.sineadbovell.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/sineadbovell⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ LinkedIn: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/sineadbovell⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Twitter / X: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/SineadBovell⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/Sineadbovell⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ TikTok: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@sineadbovell

In this episode, I sit down with world-renowned political scientist Ian Bremmer to explore how artificial intelligence could reshape global power.

Follow my work here:

Dr. Joy Buolamwini is a computer scientist, AI researcher, and founder of the Algorithmic Justice League. Her work has exposed how bias in artificial intelligence systems can reinforce inequality at scale and why the risks of AI go far beyond the headlines.

In this conversation, Dr. Buolamwini and I explore how AI systems inherit human bias and why these biases are not just technical flaws, but deeper issues rooted in the data used to train AI.

We also talk about the invisible ways AI is already shaping our lives, from algorithmic scoring and data brokers to biometric surveillance systems that most people don’t even realize they are part of.

Finally, we explore what she means when she says AI could “kill us slowly.” Not through one dramatic event, but through long-term, systemic harm that limits opportunities, reinforces inequality, and quietly reshapes society over time.

Grab a copy of Dr. Joy Buolamwini's book here.

Timestamps:

00:00 – Can AI “Kill Us Slowly”?

Follow my work here:

In this episode, I explore what the data is revealing about the future of work in an AI-driven economy and why the “learn, work, retire” era is ending.

I discuss how the unbundling of jobs impacts each of us and what it will take to move through this transition in a way that is participatory without leaving people behind.

Follow my work here:

In this episode, I explore the idea of a “post-reality era,” a world where the information we consume, the content we engage with, and even the relationships we form are increasingly shaped or generated by AI.

I break down the early signals already happening around us, from AI-generated music that people emotionally connect with, to the growing trust in AI systems as companions, advisors, and even sources of truth.

A post-reality era could have profound implications for democracy and societal cohesion, but if we can see it coming, there’s a lot we can do to get ahead of it.

Follow my work here: