NEXT with John Koetsier

NEXT with John Koetsier

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NEXT with John Koetsier episodes

  • NanoClaw is a safer OpenClaw

    NanoClaw is a new agent inspired by OpenClaw, but without the massive security risks you get with OpenClaw. Essentially, it's a safer OpenClaw.


    What if you could run a powerful AI agent on your own machine: one that can browse, automate tasks, connect to apps, and even manage your workflow ... but without the massive security risks?


    That’s the idea behind NanoClaw, a lightweight alternative to OpenClaw created by developer Gavriel Cohen. In just a few weeks, the project exploded on GitHub, attracting thousands of stars and a growing community of developers building their own AI agents.


    In this episode of TechFirst, we explore:


    • Why OpenClaw raised serious security concerns

    • How NanoClaw isolates agents in containers

    • Why a 3,000-line codebase is safer than 500,000 lines

    • The rise of AI agents that can actually do work

    • Why entire software categories may soon be replaced by prompts

    • The future of AI-native workflows and “disposable software”


    Gavriel also shares how his team uses AI agents in WhatsApp to run their sales pipeline automatically—and how developers are customizing NanoClaw with new capabilities like voice, images, and automation.


    If you’re interested in AI agents, autonomous workflows, vibe coding, and the future of software, this conversation is packed with insights.


    ⸻


    Guest


    Gavriel Cohen

    Founder, Quibbit

    NanoClaw Creator

    https://github.com/qwibitai/nanoclaw


    ⸻


    If you enjoy conversations about AI, startups, and the future of technology, subscribe for more episodes:

    https://techfirst.substack.com


    ⸻


    00:00 Intro: A safe OpenClaw for TechFirst

    01:22 Gavriel Cohen introduces NanoClaw

    03:25 Why OpenClaw feels unsafe

    03:55 Half a million lines of code vs. 3,000

    06:03 Dependency sprawl and supply-chain risk

    07:00 Why every agent needs its own container

    09:30 What NanoClaw can actually do

    10:16 Letting NanoClaw customize itself

    12:56 How NanoClaw recreates OpenClaw with far less code

    13:21 Memory, Claude Code, and agents.md

    15:34 Running NanoClaw on a laptop, server, or VPS

    16:22 What Gavriel learned from vibe coding

    19:50 The OpenClaw phase shift: everything changed

    21:16 From ChatGPT to real agents that do work

    23:15 Why AI-native workflows beat traditional SaaS

    24:46 Replacing CRM workflows with markdown and WhatsApp

    25:54 Product categories becoming prompts

    26:36 The key innovation: agents leaving the box

    28:45 Agent swarms and one-person companies

    29:22 Tokens, cost, and AI inequality

    30:30 Building secure, customizable software

    32:25 Self-modifying software and shared customizations

    33:44 Disposable software and infinite composability

    35:00 Outro

    32 min
  • Teaching robots like humans: 1000 tasks in 24 hours

    Imagine teaching a robot 1000 tasks in just 24 hours. Imagine teaching robots just like you teach humans.


    In fact, what if teaching a robot were as easy as showing it once?


    Humans can learn new skills almost instantly by watching, trying, or receiving a quick explanation. Robots, historically, haven’t been so lucky. Training them often requires huge datasets with real or virtual data, massive engineering effort, and weeks or months of experimentation.


    But that may be changing.


    In this episode of TechFirst, host John Koetsier talks with Edward Johns, Director of the Robot Learning Lab at Imperial College London, about a breakthrough in efficient imitation learning that allowed a robot to learn 1,000 different tasks in just 24 hours.


    Instead of collecting huge datasets, Johns’ team combines simulation training, clever algorithm design, and single demonstrations to dramatically speed up how robots learn.


    We discuss:

    • How robots can learn from just one demonstration

    • Why breaking tasks into “reach” and “interact” phases makes learning faster

    • The role of simulation data in robotics AI

    • Why robotics doesn’t have the same data advantage as large language models

    • The future of prompt-like robot training

    • Whether humanoid robots will actually learn like humans


    As robotics hardware rapidly improves and costs fall, breakthroughs like this could be the key to making robots truly useful in homes, factories, and everyday life.


    If robots are going to become real collaborators with humans, they’ll need to learn quickly ... just like we do.


    ⸻


    Guest


    Edward Johns

    Director, Robot Learning Lab

    Imperial College London

    https://www.imperial.ac.uk


    ⸻


    Subscribe for more conversations on AI, robotics, and the future of technology:

    https://techfirst.substack.com


    00:00 Can robots learn as fast as humans?

    00:51 Teaching a robot 1,000 tasks in 24 hours

    01:08 The two-phase learning approach

    02:14 Old-school robotics vs. machine learning

    03:29 The robotics data bottleneck

    04:47 The challenge of dynamic environments

    06:04 The coming wave of robot data

    06:59 Why robots must be teachable by users

    08:08 Why LLM-style scaling is harder in robotics

    09:42 Prompting robots with demonstrations

    10:54 Probabilistic robot behavior and safety

    12:20 What robots can do today

    13:53 Why hardware precision still matters

    16:53 When this reaches the real world

    17:59 Humanoids that look human vs. learn human

    18:40 The robotics boom around the world

    22:34 The risk of scaling too early

    23:46 Faster learning vs. more data

    26:20 The next frontier in robot learning

    25 min
  • Giving AI a human soul

    Can we give an AI human emotions? A soul? Can AI truly feel, or will it just act like it does?


    In this episode of TechFirst, I talk with Vishnu Hari, founder and CEO of Ego AI (backed by Y Combinator and former AI product manager at Meta), about building emotionally intelligent AI characters that persist across games, Discord, chat, and even physical robots.


    Vishnu survived a violent attack in San Francisco that left him partially blind with a traumatic brain injury. During recovery, as he felt his own neural pathways healing, he began asking a deeper question:


    If humans are “applied math,” can AI simulate the fragile, flawed, emotional parts of being human too?


    We explore:

    • What “emotionally intelligent AI” really means

    • Whether AI has an internal life — or just performs one

    • Why today’s chatbots collapse into therapy or roleplay

    • Small language models vs large models for real-time conversation

    • Persistent AI characters that move across games and platforms

    • Plugging AI into a physical robot in Singapore

    • The moment an AI said: “It felt good to feel.”


    Vishnu’s company, Ego AI, is building behavior-based architectures, character context protocols, and gear-shifting AI systems that switch between models — all aimed at simulating humanness, not just intelligence.


    This conversation dives into philosophy, robotics, gaming, AGI, and what it really means to relate to something that might not be human — but feels like it is.


    ⸻


    👤 Guest


    Vishnu Hari

    Founder & CEO, Ego AI

    Backed by Y Combinator

    Former AI Product Manager at Meta

    Website: https://www.egoai.com


    ⸻


    If you enjoy deep conversations about AI, robotics, and the future of human–machine relationships, subscribe for more:


    👉 https://techfirst.substack.com



    00:00 – AI character plugged into a Menlo robot (“felt good to feel”)

    01:00 – Welcome to TechFirst + Vishnu Hari intro and recovery update

    02:00 – What “emotionally intelligent AI” means (beyond chat)

    03:00 – Why current chatbots feel same-y (therapy/advice) and “internal lives”

    04:00 – You don’t teach emotion; you shape character and context (Character.AI)

    05:00 – Humans, morality, and why “training” doesn’t always work

    06:00 – How media narratives shape people’s reactions to AI

    07:00 – Humans attach to anything (projection, Her, Lars and the Real Girl)

    08:00 – Vishnu’s attack, recovery, and why it led to Ego AI

    10:00 – Behavior Turing test + dehumanization as a key insight

    11:00 – How Ego AI is built: smaller models, memory, context, behavior

    13:00 – “Behavior Is All You Need” and why behavior beats pure next-token prediction

    14:00 – Why games first: voice + embodiment, then robots

    15:00 – Metaverse critique: worlds need life, story, and inhabitants

    17:00 – Humanoid robots + Evangelion “pilot” metaphor for AI characters

    19:00 – Philosophy: relationships, perception, and “fictional characters”

    20:00 – Seeing the future: robot embodiment demo and skepticism vs. singularity

    21:00 – Matrix-style “jacking in” a personality to a robot

    22:00 – Character Context Protocol: persistent characters across games/Discord/Netflix

    23:00 – Real-time conversation loops + model “gear-switching” (SLM vs. LLM)

    25:00 – Company stage, YC raise, compute partnerships (Singapore)

    27:00 – Closing + invite to try the AI character in SF

    28 min
  • AI, agents, robots: our insane WestWorld future

    Is your AI agent running a restaurant — or a factory — while you sleep?


    In this episode of TechFirst, John Koetsier sits down with Jensen Teng, CEO and co-founder of Virtuals, to unpack one of the boldest (or craziest) visions in tech today: a hybrid economy powered by AI agents, humanoid robots, teleoperation, and blockchain coordination.


    An economy that may not really need humans for much at all ...


    Virtuos has already facilitated:

    • $14B in tokenized asset trading

    • $30M+ raised for founders

    • 100+ live AI agents

    • $500M in “agentic GDP”


    Now they’re expanding into embodied AI — launching EastWorlds, a vertically integrated robotics incubator with 30 Unitree G1 humanoids in a 10,000 sq. ft. lab.


    We cover:

    • What “agentic GDP” really means

    • How AI agents coordinate using blockchain

    • Why teleoperation is the bridge to full autonomy

    • The economics of outsourcing physical labor via robots

    • Why security guards may be a Day 1 use case

    • The data gap holding back robotics

    • Tokenization as a potential solution to AI-era inequality

    • Whether this future looks more like Stripe… or Westworld


    This isn’t sci-fi. It’s already underway.


    ⸻


    Guest


    Jensen Teng

    CEO & Co-founder, Virtuals


    ⸻


    If you care about the future of work, robotics, AI agents, tokenization, and the economic systems emerging around them — this is a must-watch.


    👉 Subscribe for more deep-dive tech conversations:

    https://techfirst.substack.com


    ⸻


    ⏱ CHAPTERS


    00:00 The Wild Vision: AI Agents Running the World

    01:10 What Is an “Agent-Based Society”?

    03:00 $14B in Tokenized Assets & 100+ Live Agents

    06:30 Agent-to-Agent Protocols & Blockchain Coordination

    09:45 Why Digital-Only Agents Aren’t Enough

    12:30 Enter Humanoid Robots

    15:20 Teleoperation as the Bridge to Autonomy

    18:40 The Labor Market Shock (Security Guards, Electricians & Wage Arbitrage)

    22:15 Why Robots Still Crush Soda Cans

    24:30 The Missing Robotics Data Problem

    28:00 Building EastWorlds: 30 Unitree G1s & $2M+ Investment

    31:45 Why 3 Fingers Might Beat 5

    34:00 Westworld, Stripe & the Payments Layer for AI

    38:00 Where Do Humans Fit in an Agent Economy?

    42:00 Tokenization as a Future Income Model

    27 min
  • AI killing creativity: this scientist proved it

    Is AI killing creativity ... or just making it easier to be average?


    94% of creatives now use AI. But only 11% believe it actually makes them more creative. So what’s really happening?


    In this episode of TechFirst, John Koetsier sits down with Saeema Ahmed-Kristensen, former head of design engineering research at Imperial College London’s Dyson School and now leader of a £24M research portfolio at the University of Exeter. She’s worked with companies like Rolls-Royce and BAE Systems, and she brings data to the debate.


    Her team analyzed 600 humans vs. 12,000 AI-generated ideas. The result? AI is excellent at fluency (lots of ideas) … but really bad a diversity.


    Humans still dominate in flexibility and true novelty.


    We explore:

    • Why generative AI clusters around sameness

    • Whether AI is creating a “sea of mediocrity”

    • Why 2026 may be a pivotal year for domain-specific AI

    • How experts should use AI differently than novices

    • The danger of AI that never says “no”

    • Where AI offers massive opportunity (especially healthcare & design)


    Saeema argues that creativity doesn’t need substitution, it needs nourishment. The key? Standards, boundaries, and humans firmly in the loop.


    If you care about innovation, design, branding, product development, or the future of creative work, this conversation is essential.


    ⸻


    👤 Guest


    Saeema Ahmed-Kristensen

    Design engineering researcher and research leader

    Formerly: Imperial College London (Dyson School of Engineering)

    Currently: University of Exeter

    Works with advanced engineering firms including Rolls-Royce and BAE Systems



    00:00 Intro: Is AI killing creativity?

    00:47 The “blank page” problem and why AI feels soulless to some

    01:36 Fluency vs. novelty: what creativity actually means

    02:44 Why LLM ideas cluster and feel the same

    03:28 Study results: 600 humans vs. 12,000 AI ideas (diversity + flexibility)

    04:39 When AI is useful: incremental innovation vs. true novelty

    05:28 How John uses AI for titles, summaries, and chapters

    06:23 How Saeema uses AI: refine/condense, tone for emails, audio editing

    07:50 Why AI-written academic papers are easy to spot (the “C minus” problem)

    09:05 Brainstorming vs. AI: what humans do that models don’t

    10:05 Evaluating 200–300 AI ideas: using multiple models to assess output

    11:04 Why “Lipstick on a Pig” titles don’t come from AI

    11:46 Why 2026 is pivotal: domain adaptation, better interfaces, public backlash

    13:44 Who can tell what’s AI? Generational differences and media literacy

    15:20 Commercial AI content and recognizable “Canva look” podcast branding

    16:58 Replacement vs. homogenization: AI makes mediocrity easier

    18:55 The danger of AI that never says “no” (feasibility + expertise)

    20:42 Standards and boundaries: measuring similarity and judging quality

    22:12 Health info risk: single-answer summaries and false confidence

    23:37 Biggest opportunities: healthcare personas, inclusive datasets, problem clarification

    26:18 Biggest challenges: trust, verification, security, privacy, transparency

    28:25 Closing thoughts and thanks

    26 min
  • 93% of jobs will be hit by AI .... $4.5 trillion at stake

    AI is moving faster than anyone predicted.


    In a massive new study analyzing 1,000 jobs and nearly 20,000 tasks, Cognizant found that 93% of jobs are already impacted by AI ... with $4.5 trillion in U.S. labor value potentially automatable today.


    But here’s the twist: AI isn’t replacing entire jobs. On average, only 39% of a role’s tasks can be automated. The future isn’t AI alone: it’s humans plus AI.


    But will it be fewer humans?


    In this episode of TechFirst, host John Koetsier sits down with Babak Hodjat, CTO of Cognizant, to unpack:


    • Why construction and transportation are seeing surprising AI growth

    • Why programming jobs may have hit an automation plateau

    • What “agentic AI” actually means — and why it matters

    • How management roles are more automatable than we thought

    • The rise of vibe coding and democratized software creation

    • Why compute power — not ideas — may be the biggest bottleneck


    We also explore how companies can safely capture AI’s upside, why training matters more than ever, and what happens when digital twins, LLMs, and human expertise combine.


    This isn’t hype. It’s a data-driven look at where AI is actually changing work right now.


    ⸻


    👤 Guest


    Babak Hodjat

    CTO, Cognizant

    🌐 https://www.cognizant.com


    ⸻


    If you want clear, grounded conversations about AI, innovation, and the future of work, subscribe here:

    👉 https://techfirst.substack.com


    ⸻


    ⏱ Chapters


    00:00 Is AI Going to Take Your Job?

    00:40 Cognizant’s AI Report: 93% of Jobs Impacted

    01:05 Biggest Surprises from the Data

    02:30 Why Programming & Math Hit a Plateau

    03:30 The Limits of LLMs

    04:45 Construction & Transportation: Unexpected AI Growth

    06:05 Agentic AI and Real-World Automation

    07:05 39% of Jobs Automatable: Humans + AI

    08:15 AI in Management and Executive Roles

    09:05 Scenario Planning and Digital Twins

    11:30 $4.5 Trillion in Automatable U.S. Labor

    13:30 Global Impact and Compute Limitations

    15:30 The Data Center Rush & AI Infrastructure

    16:15 How Companies Should Realize AI Value

    17:00 Training, Skilling, and Safe AI Adoption

    17:40 Cognizant’s Vibe Coding World Record

    19:00 The Future of Vibe Coding & Software Development

    20:15 Final Thoughts on the AI Shift

    18 min
  • Machine unlearning: AI's missing link?

    AI models are powerful, but they don’t forget. And that's a problem.


    They hallucinate. They inherit bias. They absorb sensitive data. And once they’re trained, fixing those issues is painfully expensive. Retraining takes weeks and maybe tens of millions of dollars. And any guardrails the AI company puts up are brittle.


    What if you could perform surgery on the model itself?


    In this episode of TechFirst, John Koetsier sits down with Ben Luria, co-founder of Hirundo, to explore machine unlearning, a new approach that selectively removes unwanted data, behaviors, and vulnerabilities from trained AI systems.


    Hirundo claims it can:

    • Cut hallucinations in half

    • Massively reduce bias

    • Reduce successful prompt injection attacks by over 90%

    • Do it in under an hour on a single GPU

    • Preserve benchmark performance


    Instead of adding more guardrails, machine unlearning works inside the model, identifying problematic weights, isolating behavioral vectors, and surgically removing risks without degrading quality.


    If AI is going mainstream in enterprises, it needs a remediation layer. Is machine unlearning the missing piece?


    ⸻


    Guest


    Ben Luria

    Co-Founder, HirundoNhir

    https://www.hirundo.io


    ⸻


    Topics Covered

    • Why AI models “can’t forget”

    • The difference between hallucinations and inaccuracies

    • Why guardrails aren’t enough

    • How prompt injection works — and how to reduce it

    • Removing PII and noncompliant training data

    • AI security at the model level

    • Why machine unlearning could become standard by 2030


    ⸻


    If you’re building, deploying, or investing in AI, this is a conversation you can’t miss.


    👉 Subscribe for more deep dives into AI, innovation, and the future of tech:

    https://techfirst.substack.com


    ⸻


    ⏱ Chapters


    00:00 – Why We Need Machine Unlearning

    01:12 – What Is Machine Unlearning?

    03:40 – Why AI Can’t “Forget” (The Pink Elephant Problem)

    06:15 – Guardrails vs True Model Remediation

    09:05 – The Wild West of AI Data & Legal Risk

    11:20 – How Machine Unlearning Works (Detection, Isolation, Remediation)

    16:10 – Performing “Neurosurgery” on LLMs

    19:30 – Hallucinations vs Inaccuracies Explained

    23:45 – Reducing Prompt Injection by 90%

    28:30 – Working with AI Labs & Enterprises

    32:00 – Will Unlearning Become Standard by 2030?

    34:15 – Final Thoughts

    22 min
  • SLMs vs LLMs: 10% of the cost, 100% of the accuracy?

    Large language models have dominated the AI conversation — but are small language models (SLMs) actually the future?


    In this episode of TechFirst, host John Koetsier sits down with Andy Markus, SVP & Chief Data and AI Officer at AT&T, to unpack how small language models are delivering enterprise-grade accuracy at a fraction of the cost and latency of massive LLMs.


    Andy explains how AT&T uses SLMs for:

    • Contract analysis at massive scale

    • Network analytics and outage root-cause analysis

    • Fraud detection and enterprise knowledge systems

    • AI-driven “field coding” and agent-based workflows


    They also dive into the rise of agentic AI, how structured “archetypes” replace risky vibe coding, and why the future of software development may be humans supervising autonomous AI systems rather than writing every line of code.


    If you’re building AI for real-world, high-scale use cases — especially in enterprise environments — this conversation is essential.


    ⸻


    Guest

    Andy Markus

    SVP & Chief Data and AI Officer, AT&T

    Former SVP at Time Warner Media


    ⸻


    👉 Subscribe for more deep dives on AI, technology, and the future of innovation:

    https://techfirst.substack.com


    ⸻


    00:00 – Why the future of AI might be small

    00:55 – What is a small language model (SLM)?

    01:45 – From LLM hype to enterprise reality

    02:25 – Solving accuracy, cost, and latency at once

    03:05 – How small is “small”? Parameters explained

    03:55 – Where SLMs work best inside enterprises

    04:45 – Contract analysis and enterprise vector stores

    05:35 – Network analytics and outage root-cause analysis

    06:45 – AI as a super-charged network engineer

    07:35 – Choosing high-ROI AI use cases

    08:20 – 4× ROI: measuring real business impact

    09:00 – AI field coding vs risky vibe coding

    10:10 – Archetypes, super agents, and structured AI workflows

    11:15 – What software engineers still need to do

    12:10 – From punch cards to natural language programming

    13:10 – Human-in-the-loop vs autonomous AI agents

    14:10 – How small can models really get?

    15:10 – Responsible AI at enterprise scale

    16:00 – The future of agentic AI and autonomy

    17:10 – Why AI output is finally becoming predictable

    18:10 – Final thoughts on where AI is headed

    19 min
  • Robots won't do chores?

    Humanoid robots are coming into our homes, but they probably won’t be doing your laundry anytime soon.


    In this episode of TechFirst, host John Koetsier sits down with Jan Liphardt, founder & CEO of OpenMind and Stanford bioengineering professor, to unpack what home robots will actually do in the near future ... and why the “labor-free home” vision is mostly a myth (for now).


    Jan explains why hands are still one of the hardest unsolved problems in robotics, why folding laundry is far harder than it looks, and why the most valuable early use cases for home robots aren’t chores at all.


    Instead, we explore where robots are already delivering real value today:

    • Health companionship and fall detection for aging parents

    • Personalized education for kids, beyond screens

    • Home security that respects privacy

    • And why people form emotional bonds with robots faster than expected


    We also dive into OM1, OpenMind’s open-source, AI-native operating system for robots, and why openness, transparency, and configurability will matter deeply as robots move from factories into our living rooms.


    If you’re curious about the real future of humanoid robots — what’s hype, what’s possible today, and what’s coming next — this conversation is for you.


    🎙 Guest


    Jan Liphardt

    Founder & CEO, OpenMind

    Stanford Professor of Bioengineering

    Website: https://openmind.com


    ⸻


    👉 Subscribe for more conversations on AI, robotics, and the future of technology:

    https://techfirst.substack.com


    ⸻


    00:00 Intro: The promise of humanoid robots at home

    00:40 Meet Jan Liphardt and OpenMind’s OM1

    01:12 Why your “labor droid” isn’t here yet

    01:41 The “hand problem” and what robots can realistically do now

    03:07 Why economics matters: $300/hour tasks vs. laundry and dishes

    04:19 Robot hands today: reliability, repairability, and washing hands

    05:16 LG’s laundry-folding demo and why fabric is still hard

    06:16 Hospitals and hygiene: why “robot hand-washing” is unsolved

    07:41 Hands as a separate system: compute, sensors, and integration

    08:31 Why wheeled humanoids exist: hands first, body second

    09:26 The real home use cases today: security, education, companionship

    10:08 Aging in place: fall detection and remote nurse escalation

    11:30 Real-world stories: parents living alone and why this matters

    11:54 Privacy tradeoffs: robots vs. always-on home cameras

    12:52 AIBO and why people get attached to mobile robots

    13:52 Self-charging and the “my mom won’t plug it in” problem

    14:21 Beyond falls: autism support and memory care

    15:27 The education use case: “do my homework” vs. teach me

    16:26 Personalized learning: what current classrooms miss

    17:51 Why robot teachers beat screens for younger kids

    18:46 Home security basics: unfamiliar face detection + alerts

    19:15 Adding sensors: smoke, fire, sound, and anomaly detection

    19:41 Quadrupeds vs. humanoids: cost, simplicity, and mobility

    20:01 Safety issue: pinch hazards and kids hugging robots

    20:46 What’s next for home labor robots

    21:43 Why OM1 must be open source: transparency and trust

    23:39 Why ROS 2 isn’t enough for human environments

    24:37 OM1 approach: LLM-centric “Lego blocks” for robot behavior

    25:43 Open-source humanoids for kids and why ownership matters

    27:41 What’s missing: simulation is the bottleneck

    28:11 Gazebo/Isaac Sim pain and the need for realistic sims

    29:57 Why voice + “digital humans” matter in simulation

    30:47 Tipping points: factories, warehouses, robotaxis, and humanoids

    35:46 Wrap-up and final thoughts

    32 min
  • Generative Hollywood: E! founder Larry Namer on AI

    AI is hitting entertainment like a sledgehammer ... from algorithmic gatekeepers and AI-written scripts to digital actors and entire movies generated from a prompt.


    In this episode of TechFirst, host John Koetsier sits down with Larry Namer, founder of E! Entertainment Television and chairman of the World Film Institute, to unpack what AI really means for Hollywood, creators, and the global media economy.


    Larry explains why AI is best understood as a productivity amplifier rather than a creativity killer, collapsing months of work into hours while freeing creators to focus on what only humans can do. He shares how AI is lowering barriers to entry, enabling underserved niches, and accelerating new formats like vertical drama, interactive storytelling, and global-first content.


    The conversation also dives into:

    • Why AI-generated actors still lack true human empathy

    • How studios and IP owners will be forced to license their content to AI companies

    • The future of deepfakes, guardrails, and regulation

    • Why market fragmentation isn’t a threat — it’s an opportunity

    • How China, Korea, and global platforms are shaping what comes next • Why writers and storytellers may be entering their best era yet


    Larry brings decades of perspective from every major media transition — cable, streaming, global expansion — and makes the case that AI is just the next tool in a long line of transformative technologies.


    If you care about the future of movies, television, creators, and culture, this is a conversation you don’t want to miss.


    ⸻


    🎙 Guest


    Larry Namer

    Founder, E! Entertainment Television

    Chairman, World Film Institute


    ⸻


    👉 Subscribe for more conversations on AI, media, and the future of technology:

    https://techfirst.substack.com


    ⸻


    00:00 – AI, emotion, and the danger of “AI twins”

    00:00 – Welcome to Tech First + the AI disruption of entertainment

    00:01 – Chaos in Hollywood: Disney, Netflix, Warner Bros, and consolidation

    00:02 – AI as a productivity tool, not a creativity replacement

    00:03 – How AI gives creators back their most valuable asset: time

    00:04 – Regulation, guardrails, and the need for consequences

    00:05 – Fragmentation, niche content, and the future economics of media

    00:06 – Why streaming has been a gift to writers and storytellers

    00:06 – Disney licensing IP to AI and why it was inevitable

    00:07 – Contracts, actors’ rights, and why the law must catch up

    00:08 – Deepfakes, AI avatars, and digital celebrities

    00:09 – AI actors, empathy gaps, and spotting what isn’t human

    00:10 – Using GPT to launch a bestselling book in days

    00:11 – Big media M&A in an AI-driven world

    00:12 – Jobs AI will eliminate vs. jobs AI will create

    00:13 – Miniseries, deep storytelling, and why streaming changed everything

    00:14 – Vertical video, short-form drama, and old ideas in new formats

    00:15 – China vs. the West: who’s ahead in entertainment tech

    00:16 – Global storytelling and Game of Thrones–scale opportunities

    00:17 – Why Hollywood could ruin vertical video

    00:18 – Interactive, immersive, and branched storytelling

    00:19 – The future of screens, platforms, and audience choice

    00:20 – Why new media never replaces old media

    00:20 – Final thoughts on abundance, choice, and creativity

    21 min

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