SHIFT

There’s a world in which a group of mountain gorillas in Rwanda might one day be able to pay for their own protection. It involves a new financial model with an AI-powered digital wallet and data that’s provided by the gorillas themselves, as well as the people who live and work around them.

All of this might sound far-fetched, but the man behind this project has brought other unlikely ideas to life. Jonathan Ledgard is a futurist thinker on risk, nature, and advanced technology in Africa and emerging markets, as well as a pioneer of drone delivery and interspecies money. We hear his story in the latest installment of our oral history project.

We Meet: 

Jonathan Ledgard, CEO of Tehanu

Credits:

SHIFT is produced by Jennifer Strong and Emma Cillekens. It’s mixed by Garret Lang, with original music from him and Jacob Gorski. Art by Anthony Green.

Perhaps the greatest fear about artificial intelligence is it will eventually replace human intelligence altogether, because if AI takes over decision-making, what’s irreplaceable about humans?

We Meet: 

Neil Lawrence, professor of machine learning at the University of Cambridge

Credits:

SHIFT is produced by Jennifer Strong and Emma Cillekens. It’s mixed by Garret Lang, with original music from him and Jacob Gorski. Art by Anthony Green.

Songwriter and music producer Harvey Mason Jr. has worked with some of the biggest stars of our time, from artists like Beyonce and Elton John, to Whitney Houston and Justin Beiber. In his current role as CEO of the Recording Academy he helps drive the conversation about AI in the music industry - like deciding what qualifies for the Grammys.

We Meet:  

Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr.

Credits:

SHIFT is produced by Jennifer Strong and Emma Cillekens. It’s mixed by Garret Lang, with original music from him and Jacob Gorski. Art by Anthony Green.

Do you think it's harder or easier to be a teenager now than in the past? The Pew Research Center has been studying this question and found that however a parent or teen answers, technology is likely to be cited as the reason.

We Meet: 

Jeff Gottfried, Associate Director of Research at Pew Research Center

Credits:

SHIFT is produced by Jennifer Strong and Emma Cillekens. It’s mixed by Garret Lang, with original music from him and Jacob Gorski. Art by Anthony Green.

Meet a founder questioning the wisdom of the Turing Test as he works to address the loneliness epidemic among the elderly, in the latest installment of our oral history project.

We Meet: 

Intuition Robotics Founder Dor Skuler, maker of the ElliQ digital companion

Credits:

SHIFT is produced by Jennifer Strong and Emma Cillekens. It’s mixed by Garret Lang, with original music from him and Jacob Gorski. Art by Anthony Green.

In this encore edition of our oral history project we meet a man trying to solve AI’s black box problem with symbolic AI, a subfield that communicates how decisions are made.

We Meet:

Casper Wilstrup, the Founder & CEO of Abzu

Credits:

SHIFT is produced by Jennifer Strong and Emma Cillekens. It’s mixed by Garret Lang, with original music from him and Jacob Gorski. Art by Anthony Green.

We learn why lawyers who help people seeking to legally expose corruption in the government and at private companies have decided to focus on big tech, in the latest installment of our oral history project.

We Meet:

Whistleblower Aid CEO Libby Liu

Credits:

The show is produced by Jennifer Strong and Emma Cillekens. It’s mixed by Garret Lang, with original music from him and Jacob Gorski. Art by Anthony Green.

Hearing has a profound impact on a person’s emotional, mental and cognitive well-being and there’s also a long, rich history of cutting edge tech being used in devices that are meant to help us hear better.

And yet, it’s not something we talk much about.

We Meet:

Stefan Launer, Sonova's Senior Vice President Science & Technology

Credits:

The show is produced by Jennifer Strong and Emma Cillekens. It’s mixed by Garret Lang, with original music from him and Jacob Gorski. Art by Anthony Green.

In the latest installment of our oral history project, we meet a scientist who’s been supporting  deep investigative journalism projects for more than a decade. This collaboration between Neo4j and journalists helped to uncover Russian interference in the 2016 election and the Panama Papers - an investigation of one of the biggest ever global corruption scandals that was awarded the Pulitzer Prize.

We Meet:

Neo4j Chief Scientist Dr. Jim Webber

Credits:

The show is produced by Jennifer Strong and Emma Cillekens. It’s mixed by Garret Lang, with original music from him and Jacob Gorski. Art by Anthony Green.

We hop into the backseat of a police car and learn how officers in Rwanda have adopted and deployed AI on the streets of its capital city, Kigali.

We Meet:

Chief Inspector of Police Paul Ryamugwiza, director of traffic and road enforcement systems for Rwanda National Police

Credits:

The show is produced by Jennifer Strong and Emma Cillekens. It’s mixed by Garret Lang, with original music from him and Jacob Gorski. Art by Anthony Green.