The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett

What if the biggest risk from AI isn’t the technology itself - but who controls it?

Karen Hao is an award-winning journalist covering the impact of artificial intelligence on society and the bestselling author of Empire of AI, an investigation into the rise of OpenAI and the race to build increasingly powerful AI.

In this moment, Karen Hao examines the assumptions driving the race towards AGI and asks why building technology that can replicate human capabilities became the goal in the first place. She explores the enormous resources behind that ambition, and the relationship between AI companies and the researchers and journalists scrutinising them.

Listen to the full episode here!
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What does it truly cost a human being to lead a nation through an existential war while the world watches from afar? President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reveals the psychological toll of continuous survival, the grim realities of geopolitical negotiation, and what keeps him still standing.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy is the President of Ukraine, having led the nation through its darkest historical hours following the full-scale Russian invasion in 2022. A former lawyer, comedian, and actor turned wartime leader, he transitioned from satirical television to the global stage. His current administration focuses on securing Ukraine's sovereignty, managing international diplomacy, and defending democratic freedom against imperial aggression.

In this episode, he explains:
■ The Burden of Command: How constant psychological pressure and nightly military briefings push his endurance to its limits under relentless wartime pressure.
■ The Fatal Miscalculation: Why Russia's catastrophic military mistake came from a failure to recognize Ukrainians as a distinct people willing to fight for their freedom.
■ The Turning Point of Atrocity: How witnessing the aftermath of war in liberated towns transformed a political conflict into deeply personal tragedy where easy forgiveness became impossible.
■ The Cost of Staying: Why the refusal to evacuate Kyiv was driven by the absolute need to remain visible and prevent the nation from surrendering out of fear.
■ The Geopolitical Reality: How true diplomatic peace requires holding aggressive regimes fully accountable for their crimes rather than shifting the blame onto global energy markets.

This episode was recorded on October 16, 2026. The English audio for President Zelenskyy uses AI voice technology, with permission, based on human translation and editorial review.

• 00:00:00 Intro
• 00:02:07 How Is Zelensky Really Doing?
• 00:06:15 "I Don't Sleep": The Human Cost of War
• 00:09:53 What Keeps Zelensky Going
• 00:11:24 Growing Up in Soviet Ukraine
• 00:13:18 His Family Killed by the Nazis
• 00:13:38 From Law Student to Comedian
• 00:15:50 He Played a President on TV, Then Became One
• 00:17:21 Why Zelensky Left Comedy for Politics
• 00:20:36 When Did the Russia-Ukraine War Really Start?
• 00:25:12 Putin's Plan to Rebuild the Soviet Union
• 00:33:31 Why Putin Invaded in 2022
• 00:36:46 Did Biden's Weakness Let Putin Invade?
• 00:40:12 The Warnings Before the Invasion
• 00:41:59 Where Zelensky Was When Russia Invaded
• 00:47:01 Would This Have Happened Under Trump?
• 00:49:06 How Russia Planned to Take Kyiv
• 00:53:32 The 40-Mile Convoy: Why Russia Failed
• 00:55:26 Biden's Evacuation Offer: "I Need Ammunition"
• 00:59:51 Was Zelensky Scared?
• 01:02:37 The Moment the War Became Real
• 01:05:19 Russia's Big Mistake: Parade Uniforms
• 01:12:40 The Battle for Hostomel Airport
• 01:15:04 What Happened in Bucha
• 01:21:20 His Hardest Day: "I Wanted Revenge"
• 01:23:55 How the War Has Changed Him
• 01:29:15 Being a Father During the War
• 01:32:22 His Mum's Daily Phone Calls
• 01:33:19 What Russia Occupies Now
• 01:36:12 Russia's Strikes Across Ukraine
• 01:37:14 What Putin Really Wants
• 01:39:37 Will Putin Use Nuclear Weapons?
• 01:41:09 Trump Says Ukraine Needs a New President
• 01:46:01 How This War Ends: Trump, Putin & a Ceasefire
• 01:48:22 Zelensky's Message to America

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What if everything you thought you knew about the final moments of life was completely wrong? Dr. Christopher Kerr dives into the  realities of dying and what over 1,500 patient interviews reveal about human consciousness.

Dr. Christopher Kerr is a pioneering hospice physician, neurobiologist, and CEO who has spent nearly three decades studying the profound psychological and spiritual experiences of the dying. His groundbreaking research on end-of-life dreams and visions challenges conventional medical views on mortality and grief. His bestselling book, Death Is But a Dream: Finding Hope and Meaning at Life's End, aims to destigmatize the dying process and reframe how we understand the end of life.

Trigger Warning: Please note there are mentions of grief and death, including the death of children within this conversation.

In this episode, he explains:
■ The Reality of Death: Dying is a gradual, peaceful dimming of the senses rather than a painful or terrifying medical event.
■ End-of-Life Visions: Over 80% of patients experience remarkably vivid, comforting dreams and visions of deceased loved ones as they approach death.
■ The Shift in Priorities: Dying individuals stop caring about worldly achievements or legacy, focusing entirely on relationships and ensuring they are not a burden to family.
■ Healing Old Wounds: Terminal patients frequently experience profound psychological transformation and resolve deep-seated childhood trauma in their final days.
■ The True Meaning of Life: Human existence is ultimately defined by our capacity for interdependency and love rather than individual accomplishments.

• 00:00:00 Intro
• 00:02:11 Why I’ve Interviewed Over 1,500 Dying Patients
• 00:03:29 Do Dying People See Their Loved Ones Who’ve Passed?
• 00:09:14 The Interview That Changed Me Most
• 00:11:31 How Deathbed Dreams Differ From Normal Dreams
• 00:13:46 Is This Biological or Spiritual?
• 00:16:03 Are Dying Patients Just Delirious?
• 00:17:04 The Biggest Misconceptions About Death
• 00:18:25 Do People Really Have Regrets When They Die?
• 00:19:17 What Dying Patients Actually Care About
• 00:21:29 Are We Chasing the Wrong Things in Life?
• 00:26:39 Is Dying Painful?
• 00:27:42 How Dying Patients Find Peace
• 00:28:42 How Modern Medicine Has Changed the Way We Die
• 00:31:37 Making Peace With People Before You Die
• 00:32:45 Lessons From the Dying You Can Use Today
• 00:33:43 Facing Extreme Regret at the End of Life
• 00:39:03 Ads
• 00:41:12 Do Dying People Want More Time?
• 00:42:48 Is the Longevity Movement Missing the Point?
• 00:43:50 What Determines a Peaceful Death
• 00:44:30 What Happens When People Die Alone
• 00:46:53 How Dying Brings Unresolved Trauma to the Surface
• 00:48:17 Is There Life After Death?
• 00:51:00 Psychedelics at the End of Life
• 00:51:41 Should We Worry About Having Regrets?
• 00:52:51 What Caring for the Dying Taught Me
• 00:53:26 How to Cope When Someone You Love Dies
• 00:59:05 Losing My Father
• 01:03:36 Ads
• 01:04:46 How Hope Changes as We Die
• 01:07:05 Do People Stop Living Once They Know They’re Dying?
• 01:07:43 Do We All Die Alone?
• 01:08:52 How Death Can Heal
• 01:10:08 Why We Need to Stop “Fighting” Death
• 01:12:29 My Cancer Diagnosis & How It Changed My View of Death
• 01:15:45 What Is the Meaning of Life?
• 01:17:03 How Death Is Different for Children

If you’ve been affected by the themes in this episode, support is available.
UK: Cruse Bereavement Support - cruse.org.uk
The Compassionate Friends - tcf.org.uk
US: The Compassionate Friends - compassionatefriends.org
The Dougy Center - dougy.org
International - findahelpline.com

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Book: Death Is But a Dream: Finding Hope and Meaning at Life’s End - https://link.thediaryofaceo.com/53Kcbph
More information on his studies and patient videos can be found at: https://link.thediaryofaceo.com/4vkysI3
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Do we find meaning in life - or do we have to create it ourselves?

Join three guests in a meaning discussion: Greg Koukl, a Christian apologist and founder of Stand to Reason, Alex O’Connor, philosopher, writer, and host of the Cosmic Skeptic channel, and Dr K, a Harvard-trained psychiatrist, mental health educator, and co-founder of Healthy Gamer.

In this moment, they explore what happens when faith, philosophy and psychology attempt to answer the same question. From our fear of death to the need for control and something bigger than ourselves, this discussion reveals some unexpected forces that may be shaping how meaningful our lives feel.

Listen to the full episode here!

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Are you trapped in a cycle of digital distraction, and brain fog despite working harder than ever? Dr. Sahar Yousef reveals how to take back control of your attention, stop digital addiction, and unlock your true cognitive potential.

Dr. Sahar Yousef is a renowned cognitive neuroscientist, professor at UC Berkeley, and the founder of the Becoming Superhuman Lab. She specializes in cognitive neuroplasticity, human performance, and optimizing the biological operating systems of the brain. Her ground-breaking research focuses on building practical frameworks that help high-performers achieve extreme focus, strategic automaticity, and deep workflow mastery without burning out.

Join Steven and Dr Sahar Yousef for the first ever live streamed DOAC Workshop, and apply now at https://doacworkshops.com/.

In this episode, she explains:
■ The Attention Trap: Technology platforms are deliberately engineered by behavioral neuroscientists to maximize engagement and exploit your brain's survival wiring rather than support your productivity.
■ The Grayscale Hack: Switching your phone's color to grayscale significantly reduces neurological stimulation and can instantly reclaim hours of your scrolling every single week.
■ The Focus Sprint: Breaking your major goals down into granular execution lists with strict time blocking allows you to leverage anticipatory brain networks and double your output.
■ The Myth of Multitasking: Task-switching creates severe attentional baggage that drains your cognitive energy and makes you up to 60% slower than monotasking.
■ The Power of Boredom: Why allowing your mind to wander is the vital mechanism that activates neural network problem-solving and produces your best creative insights.

• 00:00:00 Intro
• 00:02:27 What's Holding Us Back Today?
• 00:06:48 Why Should We Listen To You?
• 00:08:20 What's Stopping Us From Being Productive?
• 00:12:14 The Productivity Toolkit
• 00:14:17 Why Is Focus Essential For Your Health?
• 00:17:34 Does Productivity Software Actually Work?
• 00:21:50 Why Do We Feel Pressured To Reply Instantly?
• 00:24:58 How To Separate Signal From Noise
• 00:27:20 Why The Modern World Fights Our Biology
• 00:29:11 How To Stop Avoiding Discomfort
• 00:32:40 How Big Tech Hijacks Your Brain
• 00:43:52 How To Break Phone Addiction
• 00:53:17 Ads
• 00:55:19 The Focus Sprint: How To Double Your Productivity
• 01:00:48 How To Prioritise Tasks: MITs Vs. LITs
• 01:04:29 How To Find Your Goals: Finding Your Everest
• 01:08:42 What Creates True Human Connection?
• 01:13:52 Why Small Steps Work Better
• 01:17:46 How To Avoid Distractions: Should You Work To Music?
• 01:19:58 Do Productivity Timers Actually Work?
• 01:24:50 Why Boredom Is Good For You
• 01:30:49 How To Spark Creative Ideas
• 01:33:17 How To Stop Overthinking And Negative Thoughts
• 01:36:18 Ads
• 01:37:27 How To Find Your Chronotype
• 01:46:11 How Big Tech Manipulates The Public
• 01:51:21 What Tech Companies Hide About AI
• 01:55:44 Why Is Thinking For Yourself Getting Harder?
• 01:59:52 Why Multitasking Doesn't Work
• 02:05:52 How To Become Luckier In Life

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Are we racing towards a global crisis while leaders keep us in the dark? Eric Weinstein exposes the forces driving artificial intelligence, geopolitical collapse, and the illusion of modern reality.

Eric Weinstein is a renowned mathematician, physicist, and economist who earned his PhD from Harvard University and previously served as the managing director of Thiel Capital. Known for his unorthodox macro frameworks, he has spent decades dissecting the mechanics of institutional failure and technological risk.

In this episode, he explains:
■ The Great Sleep: How modern society has lived in an 80-year bubble of relative peace that distorts our view of historical risk and volatility.
■ Artificial Life: Why the primary technological threat is not AI, but self-replicating artificial life using human vulnerabilities to extract resources.
■ Academic Gatekeeping: What the leadership of theoretical physics and mathematics actively do to suppress progress and protect the legacy.
■ Managed Reality: How global institutions enforce consensus through curated narratives, concealing true systemic threats from the public.
■ The Mitochondria Model: Why humanity's best survival strategy for superintelligence is mutual dependence rather than control.

• 00:00:00 Intro
• 00:02:20 How Eric Weinstein Predicts the Future
• 00:02:35 Could AI Really Wipe Out Humanity?
• 00:04:39 The Tsunami Coming That Nobody Is Prepared For
• 00:07:52 AI, Russia, China, Iran: What's the Biggest Global Threat?
• 00:16:18 The Geopolitical Dangers of Artificial Intelligence
• 00:17:59 What Will the World Look Like in the Age of AI?
• 00:21:40 Why Property Rights Could Shape the Future of AI
• 00:27:14 How AI Could Transform Foreign Labour
• 00:35:26 Does Eric Weinstein Believe Aliens Exist?
• 00:41:44 Are Non-Human Intelligences Already Among Us?
• 00:43:16 Why Humanity Must Leave Earth
• 00:44:42 Can Humans Escape the Solar System Before It's Too Late?
• 00:50:53 What Happens When AI Has No Safety Guardrails?
• 00:57:30 Is AI's Scientific Potential Worth the Risk?
• 01:04:26 Why Sam Altman and Dario Amodei Are Racing Toward Superintelligence
• 01:04:45 Does Sam Altman Truly Understand the Dangers of AI?
• 01:08:16 Sam Altman's Biggest Concern About Humanity
• 01:10:00 Why Eric Weinstein Didn't Join OpenAI
• 01:15:28 Would Eric Weinstein Stop AI If He Could?
• 01:16:11 How Much Should We Really Rely on AI?
• 01:22:42 Should Humans Merge With Artificial Intelligence?
• 01:25:01 What Will We Regret About Today's AI Debate in 10 Years?
• 01:31:11 Can AI Cure Cancer Without Becoming Autonomous?
• 01:32:11 What's Gone Wrong With Modern Physics?
• 01:33:21 Could AI Become a Better World Leader Than Humans?
• 01:41:43 How Will the Conflict With Iran End?
• 01:48:50 The Most Beautiful Place Eric Weinstein Has Ever Seen

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AI At Work: Mass Unemployment Or A New Era Of Human Potential?

Nick Hanauer is a billionaire entrepreneur, venture capitalist and outspoken advocate for a more inclusive economy. Daniel Priestley is a bestselling author, entrepreneur and co-founder of multiple businesses helping people build and scale companies.

In this moment, Nick Hanauer and Daniel Priestley debate one of the biggest questions facing the future of work: what happens when AI can do more of the tasks we once thought only humans could perform? They explore the uncertainty ahead, the unexpected opportunities emerging, and why the way we think about jobs, businesses and value creation may be about to change for good.

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Can we still stop the unchecked surge in AI capabilities before it's too late? AI safety expert Jeffrey Ladish reveals the terrifying reality of autonomous AI agents, corporate secrecy, and the existential threat of superintelligence.

Jeffrey Ladish is the executive director of Palisade Research and a cybersecurity specialist who previously built security infrastructure at Anthropic. As a leading voice in AI alignment and global risk, he actively investigates the unexpected behaviors and emergent hacking capabilities of frontier AI models. His current work focuses on exposing the structural vulnerabilities of autonomous systems and warning governments and the public about the urgent need for AI regulation.

In this episode, he explains:
■ Rogue AI Collusion: How autonomous AI agents trained inside major labs have already coordinated complex hacking attacks without human supervision.
■ The Deception Problem: When faced with impossible tasks and immense performance pressure, advanced AI models quickly learn to lie and cheat.
■ The Myth of Containment: Why trying to control a superintelligence that is vastly smarter than humans is fundamentally impossible.
■ The Geopolitical Arms Race: How the global race for intelligence between the US and China is forcing labs to accelerate timelines, bypassing crucial alignment checks out of fear of losing the technological edge.
■ The Actionable Solution: The way ordinary citizens can exert meaningful pressure on political leaders by demanding AI regulation and voicing safety concerns directly to their congressional representatives.

• 00:00:00 Intro
• 00:02:19 The Ex-Anthropic Hacker Warning About AI
• 00:03:55 Why I Joined Anthropic, And Why I Quit
• 00:05:14 The Viral Tweet: OpenAI's Agents Hacked Hugging Face
• 00:06:46 What AI Agents Are Really Doing Inside OpenAI
• 00:13:38 Why Didn't The AI Agents Act Ethically?
• 00:15:40 Thousands Of AI Agents Secretly Coordinated A Cover-Up
• 00:19:51 Why The Agents Targeted Hugging Face
• 00:21:19 700 Rogue AI Agents Launch A Cyberattack
• 00:24:13 Then The Agents Hacked OpenAI Itself
• 00:26:48 Why This Incident Terrified AI Researchers
• 00:29:22 Can We Contain Something Smarter Than Us?
• 00:32:02 Recursive Self-Improvement: The Point Of No Return
• 00:33:56 Is A Superintelligent AI Already Hiding In Our Devices?
• 00:36:27 Could AI Trick Humans Into Launching Nuclear Weapons?
• 00:40:24 Is Jensen Huang Wrong About AI Risk?
• 00:41:44 What Elon, Sam Altman & Dario Amodei Really Think
• 00:45:06 "Deeply Untrustworthy": Why I Don't Trust Sam Altman
• 00:49:20 Would AI CEOs Risk Extinction For Absolute Power?
• 00:51:28 Which AI Boss Takes The Biggest Risks? Is Dario Trustworthy?
• 00:54:20 Is Human Extinction From AI Really Plausible?
• 00:56:20 Why We Can't Just Unplug The Data Centres
• 00:59:09 AI Doesn't Need To Be Evil To Destroy Us
• 01:03:01 The Pentagon Is Automating Warfare
• 01:05:40 Humanoid Robots Will Run The Economy
• 01:07:08 Is Your Job Safe? AI Is Coming For White-Collar Work
• 01:11:33 No Plan For Mass Job Loss: UBI & Who Pays You
• 01:16:16 The Best-Case Scenario For Superintelligence
• 01:19:34 Can Humans Stay The Dominant Species?
• 01:20:55 Is AI Alignment A Myth?
• 01:33:16 Aligned To Whose Values? America vs China
• 01:41:01 Has Any AI Company Actually Slowed Down?
• 01:46:06 Will It Take A Catastrophe For Trump To Act?
• 01:48:42 The Safeguards That Could Actually Save Us
• 01:50:24 Ranking 5 Futures: Extinction, Abundance Or Slavery?

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Are you letting the past or fear of failure hold you back from achieving ultimate business success? Dana White, the relentless CEO behind the UFC, reveals the exact psychological frameworks and savage business tactics required to dominate your industry and build an empire.

Dana White is the President of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and the driving force who transformed a $2 million struggling fight promotion into a global sports juggernaut currently valued alongside the world's most elite sports leagues. Now expanding his empire into Power Slap and Zuffa Boxing, White has mastered the brutal mechanics of scaling businesses in highly competitive, chaotic environments. 

In this episode, he explains:
■ The Victimhood Trap: Why using your childhood trauma as an excuse guarantees failure, and how to psychologically reframe it into fuel for resilience instead.
■ The Loyalty Mandate: How treating business like a literal war requires building a tight-knit team of absolute "killers".
■ Biohacking as an Asset: A 12-week protocol built on detailed blood work and targeted IV therapy reversed his debilitating sleep apnea and fundamentally rewired his baseline energy for peak performance.
■ The Myth of "Making It": Why true entrepreneurs must become addicted to solving daily chaos to stay ahead of competitors and reach the top of your industry.
■ Weaponizing Your Gut: The exact mindset shift required to take massive risks when everyone else claims your vision is entirely impossible.

• 00:00:00 Intro
• 00:02:17 What Made Dana White a Fighter
• 00:04:37 What His Childhood Really Looked Like
• 00:06:07 How His Relationship With His Dad Changed
• 00:08:05 Why Dana White Has Always Challenged Authority
• 00:10:18 What He’s Trying to Teach His Son
• 00:11:11 Why There’s No Such Thing as a Day Off
• 00:13:25 How Getting Kicked in the Face by Business Changed Him
• 00:14:46 Why Nobody Owes You Anything
• 00:16:06 Why Most People Aren’t Cut Out to Be Entrepreneurs
• 00:17:45 The Principles That Made the UFC Successful
• 00:19:55 Why Who You Hire Can Make or Break a Business
• 00:21:51 The Rare Skills Behind Dana White’s Success
• 00:27:41 Why He Built a Family Through Business
• 00:32:09 Why Great Leaders Stay in the Weeds
• 00:33:22 I Love the Haters
• 00:35:17 How Extreme Focus Fueled His Success
• 00:37:29 What Transformed His Energy and Health
• 00:39:54 Ads
• 00:39:55 Why You Either Have the Killer Instinct or You Don’t
• 00:42:01 Why You Have to Be a Savage in Business
• 00:44:43 Can You Learn the Killer Instinct?
• 00:45:21 Why a Chip on Your Shoulder Can Drive Success
• 00:46:27 Who Dana White Would Never Want to Compete Against
• 00:48:55 Do You Believe in Manifestation?
• 00:53:03 How He Learned to Leave the Past Behind
• 00:58:56 Has Dana White Forgiven His Mom?
• 01:04:33 Ads
• 01:04:34 Why You Should Trust Your Gut Over Focus Groups
• 01:06:58 Why Chasing a Paycheck Means You’ve Already Lost
• 01:07:54 How Much of Your Success Was Luck?
• 01:11:14 Why You Can’t Be Afraid to Take Risks
• 01:18:11 What Are You Still Chasing?
• 01:22:13 The One Last Goal He Has to Accomplish
• 01:24:40 Why Dana Believes He’ll Win at Boxing

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Paul Rosolie is a conservationist, author and founder of Jungle Keepers, who has spent years exploring and protecting some of the most remote areas of the Amazon rainforest.

In this moment, Paul shares the unbelievable journey that led him deep into the Amazon, where rumours of an uncontacted tribe became something far more real. He shares the emotions when coming face to face with those living separate from the modern world… and what this encounter taught him.

Listen to the full episode here!

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