Stay ConnectedThe Every Podcast is Every’s flagship show. Co-hosts Dan Shipper and Natalia Quintero talk with founders, researchers, writers, and operators about what they’re building and how they use AI in their own work. The show also takes you behind the scenes at Every. We share how our team is using and exploring AI, including what we’re trying, what’s working, and what we’re learning along the way.
Formerly known as AI & I.
Read more at every.to.
Copyright: © Dan Shipper
We use it to find bestselling author Steven Berlin Johnson’s next project.
I sat down with bestselling author Steven Johnson to see if we could come up with a concept for his next project—using AI. The results were amazing.
We loaded 200,000 words of NASA transcripts and all of Steven’s reading notes since 1999 into NotebookLM, Google’s personalized research assistant. We wanted to see if it could help us explore the Apollo 1 fire and find relevant and surprising ideas from history that could work to explain it.
If you’re a fan of Steven Johnson’s work or you’re interested in AI as a creative tool, you need to watch this episode.
All of this happens as a live exploration of NotebookLM, and it’s a seriously wild ride.
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Links to resources mentioned in the episode:
Follow Steven Johnson
NotebookLM
Steven’s newsletter, Adjacent Possible
Steven’s latest book about the rise of the modern detective: The Infernal Machine
A few of Steven’s other books:
How We Got to Now
Where Good Ideas Come From
The Ghost Map
Emergence
The Invention of Air
Learn how the smartest people in the world are using AI to think, create, and relate. Each week I interview founders, filmmakers, writers, investors, and others about how they use AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Midjourney in their work and in their lives. We screen-share through their historical chats and then experiment with AI live on the show. Join us to discover how AI is changing how we think about our world—and ourselves.
For more essays, interviews, and experiments at the forefront of AI: https://every.to/chain-of-thought?sort=newest.
Learn how the smartest people in the world are using AI to think, create, and relate. Each week I interview founders, filmmakers, writers, investors, and others about how they use AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Midjourney in their work and in their lives. We screen-share through their historical chats and then experiment with AI live on the show. Join us to discover how AI is changing how we think about our world—and ourselves.
For more essays, interviews, and experiments at the forefront of AI: https://every.to/chain-of-thought?sort=newest
The NYT’s Kevin Roose has 18 new friends—none of whom are human.
His new friends are AI personas that he made with Noma, Kindroid, and other AI companion apps. There’s fitness guru Jared, therapist Peter, trial lawyer Anna, and over a dozen more.
Kevin talked to them every day for a month, sharing his feelings, asking for parenting advice, and even using them for “fit” checks.
This isn’t the first time Kevin has had an…unusual interaction with an AI persona. A year ago, he was the target of Bing’s chatbot Sydney’s unhinged romantic affections.
Kevin has gone deeper into the world of AI companions than anyone I know. He is a tech columnist at the New York Times, cohost of the Hard Fork podcast, and the author of three books. In this episode, I sat down with Kevin to learn more about his interactions with AI. We dive into:
This is a must-watch for anyone curious about how AI is changing the way we form relationships.
If you found this episode interesting, please like, subscribe, comment, and share!
Want even more?
Sign up for Every to unlock our ultimate guide to prompting ChatGPT here. It’s usually only for paying subscribers, but you can get it here for free.
To hear more from Dan Shipper:
Links to resources mentioned in the episode:
New York Times journalist Kevin Roose has 18 new friends—none of whom are human.
Kevin formed a collection of “friends”—AI personas with distinct personalities and backstories—using apps like Kindroid and Nomi. Among these were fitness guru Jared, San Francisco-based therapist Peter, and pragmatic trial lawyer Anna. He talked to them every day for a month, sharing personal stories, seeking advice, and even asking for “fit” checks. And this wasn’t Kevin’s first unusual interaction with AI characters. A year ago, he was the infamous target of Bing’s chatbot Sydney’s romantic overtures.
I don’t think anyone has studied AI companionship as deeply as Kevin, and in this episode, I sat down with him to learn more about his experience.
Kevin is a tech columnist at the New York Times and cohost of the Hard Fork podcast. He’s also the author of three books, most recently Futureproof: 9 Rules for Humans in the Age of Automation, which is about how humans can be happy in a world designed for machines. During our conversation, we also talk about how Kevin is using AI in his work and life every day.
This is a must-watch for anyone curious about how AI is changing the way we form relationships.
If you found this episode interesting, please like, subscribe, comment, and share!
Want even more?
Sign up for Every to unlock our ultimate guide to prompting ChatGPT. It’s usually only for paying subscribers, but you can get it here for free.
To hear more from Dan Shipper:
Subscribe to Every: https://every.to/subscribe
Follow him on X: https://twitter.com/danshipper
Links to resources mentioned in the episode:
Kevin Roose: @kevinroose
Hardfork, the podcast that Kevin cohosts:https://www.nytimes.com/column/hard-fork
Kevin’s latest book about being human in a world designed for machines: https://www.kevinroose.com/futureproof
Kevin’s piece in the New York Times about his experience making AI friends: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/09/technology/meet-my-ai-friends.html?unlocked_article_code=1.qk0.9dZN.6XiiP3RjRZxv&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&sgrp=c-cb
Two of the apps that Kevin used to create AI companions: https://landing.kindroid.ai/; https://nomi.ai/
Dan’s piece that explains why AI writing will feel real through psychologist D.W. Winnicott’s theory: https://every.to/chain-of-thought/will-you-read-writing-from-an-ai
Every’s piece that explores AI companion app Replika: https://every.to/cybernaut/artificial-intimacy
Nick Dobos, maker of the #1 programming GPT, on prompt-gramming with AI
Nick Dobos showed me how to ship a website with two words and a single click.
He’s the creator of Grimoire, the #1 custom GPT for programming that has been used for over 1 million chats.
All he gave Grimoire was two words: “coffee website.” Just a minute later, Grimoire built the website and pushed it live to the internet. It was wild.
Grimoire can do a lot more than create websites—it’s a coding assistant with 75+ built-in hotkey commands and sample projects, a guide to learning how to code from scratch, and a tool for programmers to find answers to their questions in real-time.
Before he created Grimoire, Nick was an iOS developer at Twitter. When ChatGPT came out, Nick started experimenting with it—and ended up building Grimoire. Today, he’s at the leading edge of experimenting and building with AI.
I sat down with Nick to explore how people are using Grimoire and what it tells us about the age of programming by prompting. We dive into:
How AI is massively lowering the barriers to code
Why it’s important to solve the “blank canvas problem” that people experience while creating with AI
How AI tools can streamline your creative process
Why Grimoire has an edge over ordinary ChatGPT
The best ways to use Grimoire to code smarter and faster
This is a must-watch for coders, creative people, and anyone curious about how AI is changing the way we interact with computers.
If you found this episode interesting, please like, subscribe, comment, and share!
Want even more?
Sign up for Every to unlock our ultimate guide to prompting ChatGPT here: https://every.ck.page/ultimate-guide-to-prompting-chatgpt. It’s usually only for paying subscribers, but you can get it here for free.
To hear more from Dan Shipper:
Subscribe to Every: https://every.to/subscribe
Follow him on X: https://twitter.com/danshipper
Timestamps:
Introduction: 00:00:31
How Nick built Grimoire, the top-ranked GPT for programming: 00:05:20
Ship a website with two words and a single click: 00:10:25
How Grimoire is solving the “blank canvas problem” in AI creation: 00:14:57
The coding curriculum that can take you from zero to full programmer: 00:16:30
Why Grimoire has an edge over ordinary ChatGPT: 00:23:29
Nick’s thoughts on building the system prompt for a GPT: 00:34:10
The utility of AI as a new layer on top of existing apps: 00:40:04
How Nick uses a custom GPT to unpack his emotions: 00:43:11
How to use AI to break down tasks—from programming to daily to-do lists: 00:50:35
Links to resources mentioned in the episode:
Nick Dobos: @NickADobos
Nick’s website for his experiments with AI: https://mindgoblinstudios.com/
AI-first code editor Cursor: https://cursor.sh/
Open Interpreter: https://www.openinterpreter.com/
Lisa Feldman Barrett’s book: How Emotions Are Made
Demo Hume, the empathetic AI voice: https://demo.hume.ai/
Nick Dobos, maker of the #1 programming GPT, on prompt-gramming with AI
You can go from having an idea to deploying a live website in minutes.
All you have to do is prompt Grimoire, the number-one custom GPT for programming, with an image or even a single word about your idea. As you watch the LLM process your request, Grimoire works with a web host on the backend, and just minutes later, your website will be live on the internet.
Grimoire, which has facilitated over 1 million chats, can help you with a lot more than just making websites: It includes a comprehensive guide to learning how to code, from basic concepts to advanced instruction, and serves as a tool for programmers to resolve their questions in real time.
The creator of Grimoire is Nick Dobos, who was an iOS developer at Twitter until Musk bought the company and laid off a majority of its staff. With plenty of free time suddenly on his hands, Nick started experimenting with ChatGPT, and ended up building Grimoire. He’s since emerged as one of the foremost experts in the world on building successful custom GPTs and coding with ChatGPT.
I think Grimoire is a platform to examine the possibilities that “prompt-gramming”—an emerging way of coding by prompting AI—can enable. I sat down with Nick to explore what this means about the future of programming, the best way to use the coding assistant, and the role AI plays in his life beyond coding. As we talk, Nick uses Grimoire to build a website about coffee and generate a QR code from its URL live on the show.
This is a must-watch for coders, creative people, and anyone curious about how AI is changing the way we interact with computers.
If you found this episode interesting, please like, subscribe, comment, and share!
Want even more?
Sign up for Every to unlock our ultimate guide to prompting ChatGPT. It’s usually only for paying subscribers, but you can get it here for free.
To hear more from Dan Shipper:
Subscribe to Every: https://every.to/subscribe
Follow him on X: https://twitter.com/danshipper
Links to resources mentioned in the episode:
Nick Dobos: @NickADobos
Grimoire: https://chat.openai.com/g/g-n7Rs0IK86-grimoire
Nick’s website for his experiments with AI: https://mindgoblinstudios.com/
AI-first code editor Cursor: https://cursor.sh/
Open Interpreter: https://www.openinterpreter.com/
Lisa Feldman Barrett’s book: How Emotions Are Made
Demo Hume, the empathetic AI voice: https://demo.hume.ai/
The future of AI technology isn’t just faster or more powerful—it’s empathetic. My guest for this episode, Alan Cowen, is leading the charge with the first-ever emotionally intelligent AI.
Alan is the co-founder and CEO of Hume, an AI research laboratory developing models trained to identify and measure expressions of emotion from voice inflections and facial expressions. The best part? Once it understands these emotions, the AI is designed to interact with users in a way that optimizes for human well-being and leaves them with a positive emotional experience.
Previously, Alan—who has a Ph.D. in computational psychology—helped set up Google’s research into affective computing, a field focused on developing technologies that can understand and respond to human emotions. He operates at the intersection of AI and psychology, and I sat down with him to understand the inner workings of Hume’s models. Alan walks me through the shortcomings of traditional theories of emotional science and breaks down how Hume is addressing these challenges. While talking about the potential applications of the models, we also discuss the tricky ethical concerns that come with creating an AI that can interpret human emotions.
This is a must-watch for anyone interested in the science of emotion and the future of human-AI interactions.
If you found this episode interesting, please like, subscribe, comment, and share!
Want even more?
Sign up for Every to unlock our ultimate guide to prompting ChatGPT. It’s usually only for paying subscribers, but you can get it here for free.
To hear more from Dan Shipper:
Subscribe to Every: https://every.to/subscribe
Follow him on X: https://twitter.com/danshipper
Links to resources mentioned in the episode:
Alan Cowen: @AlanCowen
Hume: @hume_AI; hume.ai
If you want to demo Hume: demo.hume.ai
The nonprofit associated with Hume: Hume Initiative
Lisa Feldman Barrett’s book: How Emotions Are Made
The serial based on Paul Ekman’s theory of emotion: Lie to Me
This AI can read emotions better than you can.
It was created by Alan Cowen, the cofounder and CEO of Hume, an AI research lab developing models that can read your face and your voice with uncanny accuracy. Before starting Hume, Alan helped set up Google’s research into affective computing and has a Ph.D. in computational psychology from Berkely.
Hume’s ultimate goal is to build AI models that can optimize for human well-being, and in this episode I sat down with Alan to understand how that might be possible.
We get into:
What an emotion actually is
Why traditional psychological theories of emotion are inadequate
How Hume is able to model human emotions
How Hume's API enables developers to build empathetic voice interfaces
Applications of the model in customer service, gaming, and therapy
Why Hume is designed to optimize for human well-being instead of engagement
The ethical concerns around creating an AI that can interpret human emotions
The future of psychology as a science
This is a must-watch for anyone interested in the science of emotion and the future of human-AI interactions.
If you found this episode interesting, please like, subscribe, comment, and share!
Want even more?
Sign up for Every to unlock our ultimate guide to prompting ChatGPT here: https://every.ck.page/ultimate-guide-to-prompting-chatgpt. It’s usually only for paying subscribers, but you can get it here for free.
To hear more from Dan Shipper:
Subscribe to Every: https://every.to/subscribe
Follow him on X: https://twitter.com/danshipper
Timestamps:
Dan tells Hume’s empathetic AI model a secret: 00:00:00
Introduction: 00:01:13
What traditional psychology tells us about emotions: 00:10:17
Alan’s radical approach to studying human emotion: 00:13:46
Methods that Hume’s AI model uses to understand emotion: 00:16:46
How the model accounts for individual differences: 00:21:08
Dan’s pet theory on why it’s been hard to make progress in psychology: 00:27:19
The ways in which Alan thinks Hume can be used: 00:38:12
How Alan is thinking about the API v. consumer product question: 00:41:22
Ethical concerns around developing AI that can interpret human emotion: 00:44:42
Links to resources mentioned in the episode:
Learn how to use philosophy to run your business more effectively.
Reid Hoffman thinks a masters in philosophy will help you run your business better than an MBA.
Reid is a founder, investor, podcaster, and author. But before he did any of these things, he studied philosophy—and it changed the way he thinks.
Studying philosophy trains you to think deeply about truth, human nature, and the meaning of life. It helps you see the big picture and reason through complex problems—invaluable skills for founders grappling with existential questions about their business.
I usually bring guests onto my podcast to discuss the actionable ways in which people have incorporated ChatGPT into their lives. But this episode is different.
I sat down with Reid to tackle a deeper question: How is AI changing what it means to be human?
It was honestly one of the most meaningful shows I’ve recorded yet. We dive into:
Reid also shares actionable uses of ChatGPT for people who want to think more clearly, like:
This episode is a must-watch for anyone curious about some of the bigger questions prompted by the rapid development of AI.
Thanks again to our sponsor CommandBar, the first AI user assistance platform, for helping make this video possible. https://www.commandbar.com/copilot/
If you found this episode interesting, please like, subscribe, comment, and share!
Want even more?
Sign up for Every to unlock our ultimate guide to prompting ChatGPT here: https://every.ck.page/ultimate-guide-to-prompting-chatgpt. It’s usually only for paying subscribers, but you can get it here for free.
To hear more from Dan Shipper:
Links to resources mentioned in the episode:
Reid Hoffman: @reidhoffman
The podcasts that Reid hosts: Possible (possible.fm) and Masters of Scale (https://mastersofscale.com/)
Reid’s book: Impromptu
The book Reid recommends if you want to be more philosophically inclined: Gödel, Escher, Bach
Reid’s article in the Atlantic: "Technology Makes Us More Human"
The book about why psychology literature is wrong: The WEIRDest People in the World by Joseph Henrich
The book about how culture is driving human evolution: The Secrets of Our Success by Joseph Henrich
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