The Aarthi and Sriram Show

EP 84: The Mike Maples Interview: How a legendary VC finds the best startups and founders Aug 18, 2024

Show notes

Sriram and Aarthi are joined by Martin Casado, a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, to discuss the future of the AI Safety Bill SB 1047. A bill that sets out to regulate AI at the model level, is now slated for a California Assembly vote in August. If passed, one signature from Governor Gavin Newsom could cement it into California law.

Show notes:

(00:00) Trailer and intro on SB1047

(00:43) Welcome Martin Casado of a16z

(2:30) What is SB1047?

(4:10) What is the origin of SB1047 bill?

(6:14) Should AI be regulated?

(10:20) Is AI a paradigm shift?

(13:36) Who is funding this bill? ‘Baptists vs bootleggers’ and Nick Bostrom’s Superintelligence book being the origin point.

(16:35) Scott Wiener’s support of the bill

(19:34) Open source benefitting software world and risks to open source due to this bill

(22:10) Are large models more dangerous?

(24:10) Is there a correlation between size of models and risk associated?

(26:45) How would Martin frame any regulations on AI? What’s a better way

(28:46) Nancy Pelosi opposes the bill. Some famous researchers are for the bill. Who comprises the two opposing camps and what is the motivation?

(33:10) Why does Pelosi oppose the bill?

(35:00) Leopold Aschenbrenner and “Situational Awareness” paper

(37:20) Non-system people viewing systems - computer systems are not parametric but sigmoidal.

(41:30) AI is the ultimate ‘Deus ex machina’ (God in the machine)

(44:15) Sriram compares AI regulations to Game of Thrones episode

(46:00) Anthropic’s investment in AI safety

(48:15) If you’re an AI founder, what can you do about this bill today?

(50:00) Why is this bill a personal issue for Martin?

Other episodes you might enjoy:

EP 74 - How To Fix Google's WOKE AI Disaster

EP 63 - Lessons From Networking In Silicon Valley

EP 59 - Why We Moved to London, The Elon Musk Book, Should You Get An MBA

Follow Sriram:

https://www.instagram.com/sriramk/

https://twitter.com/sriramk

Follow Aarthi:

https://www.instagram.com/aarthir/

https://twitter.com/aarthir

Follow the podcast:

https://www.instagram.com/aarthiandsriramshow/

https://twitter.com/aarthisrirampod

EP 83 - Advice For Founders & Start-Ups From Marc Andreesen, Vinod Khosla, Palmer Luckey, and more Jul 24, 2024

Show notes

A crash course for founders from Marc Andreesen, Vinod Khosla, Stephen Wolfram, Palmer Luckey, and Aravind Srinivas.

Show notes:

(0:00) Marc Andreessen’s idea maze breakdown

(5:29) Vinod Khosla wants you to be internally motivated

(6:42) Stephen Wolfram explains how to think

(8:47) Palmer Luckey’s three tips for young entrepreneurs

(13:02) Aravind Srinivas’ advice for students

Other episodes you might enjoy:

EP 76 - How To Fix Legal Immigration In America

EP 74 - How To Fix Google's WOKE AI Disaster

EP 63 - Lessons From Networking In Silicon Valley

EP 59 - Why We Moved to London, The Elon Musk Book, Should You Get An MBA

Follow Sriram:

https://www.instagram.com/sriramk/

https://twitter.com/sriramk

Follow Aarthi:

https://www.instagram.com/aarthir/

https://twitter.com/aarthir

Follow the podcast:

https://www.instagram.com/aarthiandsriramshow/

https://twitter.com/aarthisrirampod

EP 82 - ⁠⁠Kyla Scanlon Explains Gen Z's Money Worries Jul 06, 2024

Show notes

Kyla Scanlon⁠ ⁠is an economic commentator who joins Sriram and Aarthi to discuss the disconnect between the economy and consumer sentiment. Kyla is also the author of her brand new book 'In This Economy' which reveals the hidden forces driving key economic outcomes, the most common myths to steer clear of, and the dusty, outdated assumptions that constrain our political imagination, offering a bold new path to building a prosperous society that works for everyone.

Show Notes:

(0:00) Intro

(2:14) How would Kyla fix the U.S. economy?

(4:05) Why home ownership might NOT be the best way to build wealth

(10:26) Leadership gap left by Steve Jobs at major tech companies

(13:11) Why Kyla wrote a book

(17:33) What people get wrong about Gen Z

(22:55) The difficulties of measuring the economy

(27:55) Living in a post-truth society

(30:03) The end of monoculture

(34:00) Kyla’s video-creation strategy

(35:33) Current state of social media platforms

(38:44) Kyla’s bold 2024 prediction

Other episodes you might enjoy:

EP 76 - How To Fix Legal Immigration In America

EP 74 - How To Fix Google's WOKE AI Disaster

EP 63 - Lessons From Networking In Silicon Valley

EP 59 - Why We Moved to London, The Elon Musk Book, Should You Get An MBA

Follow Sriram:

https://www.instagram.com/sriramk/

https://twitter.com/sriramk

Follow Aarthi:

https://www.instagram.com/aarthir/

https://twitter.com/aarthir

Follow the podcast:

https://www.instagram.com/aarthiandsriramshow/

https://twitter.com/aarthisrirampod

EP 81 - How Sriram and Aarthi Close Deals Jun 24, 2024

Show notes

Show Notes:

(0:00) Audio issue

(0:51) Introduction

(3:40) Deals are long-term relationships

(6:02) Facebook-WhatsApp acquisition story

(12:04) The most important part of deal-making

(16:44) Don’t come off as desperate

(19:35) Maintaining momentum during a deal

(25:53) Know everything about the person you’re dealing with

(33:37) How we closed our London home

(37:54) Mistakes we often see

(44:40) Managing emotions while deal-making

(50:19) What to do if the deal falls through

Other episodes you might enjoy:

EP 76 - How To Fix Legal Immigration In America

EP 74 - How To Fix Google's WOKE AI Disaster

EP 63 - Lessons From Networking In Silicon Valley

EP 59 - Why We Moved to London, The Elon Musk Book, Should You Get An MBA

Follow Sriram:

https://www.instagram.com/sriramk/

https://twitter.com/sriramk

Follow Aarthi:

https://www.instagram.com/aarthir/

https://twitter.com/aarthir

Follow the podcast:

https://www.instagram.com/aarthiandsriramshow/

https://twitter.com/aarthisrirampod

EP 80 - How Sriram And Aarthi Hire The Right People Jun 08, 2024

Show notes

Show notes:

(0:00) Intro

(0:56) Prioritize hiring yourself

(5:37) Always keep looking for talent

(8:10) Align incentives with your hire

(15:05) How to find the best hires

(19:15) How to run a good loop

(29:51) Reference checks are underrated

(37:25) How to close the hire

(45:45) Conclusion

Other episodes you might enjoy:

EP 76 - How To Fix Legal Immigration In America

EP 74 - How To Fix Google's WOKE AI Disaster

EP 63 - Lessons From Networking In Silicon Valley

EP 59 - Why We Moved to London, The Elon Musk Book, Should You Get An MBA

Follow Sriram:

https://www.instagram.com/sriramk/

https://twitter.com/sriramk

Follow Aarthi:

https://www.instagram.com/aarthir/

https://twitter.com/aarthir

Follow the podcast:

https://www.instagram.com/aarthiandsriramshow/

https://twitter.com/aarthisrirampod

EP 79 - The State of AI: GPT-4, Google I/O, Generative AI Startups with Naveen Rao, VP of Generative AI at Databricks May 22, 2024

Show notes

Show notes:

(0:00) Naveen’s background

(5:32) Where Generative AI is today

(8:00) ChatGPT-4o and Google I/O announcements were NOT fundamental shifts

(9:38) Has generative AI scaling hit a wall?

(16:34) AI pretraining difficulties

(22:49) General AI vs. specialized AI

(25:55) Biggest opportunities for generative AI startups

(29:15) AI hardware landscape

(33:23) How open source AI companies can compete with closed models like OpenAI?

(38:59) Why Naveen doesn’t use AI in his home

(40:22) Is open-sourcing AI dangerous?

(43:46) Advice for founders

(47:00) Naveen sold to Intel too early

(51:09) The pace of AI innovation

Other episodes you might enjoy:

EP 76 - How To Fix Legal Immigration In America

EP 74 - How To Fix Google's WOKE AI Disaster

EP 63 - Lessons From Networking In Silicon Valley

EP 59 - Why We Moved to London, The Elon Musk Book, Should You Get An MBA

Follow Sriram:

https://www.instagram.com/sriramk/

https://twitter.com/sriramk

Follow Aarthi:

https://www.instagram.com/aarthir/

https://twitter.com/aarthir

Follow the podcast:

https://www.instagram.com/aarthiandsriramshow/

https://twitter.com/aarthisrirampod

EP 78 - Sriram & Aarthi’s Job Advice, Work-Life Balance, Betting On Yourself May 05, 2024

Show notes

Sriram and Aarthi break down popular audience questions about jobs, work-life balance, and more.

Show notes:

(0:00) Intro

(2:21) Advice for our younger selves

(13:20) Betting on yourself

(23:19) Benefits of taking more shots

(28:59) Work-life balance

(33:32) Aarthi’s hot take

(35:45) Time to switch jobs?

(47:21) Our unpopular opinions

Other episodes you might enjoy:

EP 76 - How To Fix Legal Immigration In America

EP 74 - How To Fix Google's WOKE AI Disaster

EP 63 - Lessons From Networking In Silicon Valley

EP 59 - Why We Moved to London, The Elon Musk Book, Should You Get An MBA

Follow Sriram:

https://www.instagram.com/sriramk/

https://twitter.com/sriramk

Follow Aarthi:

https://www.instagram.com/aarthir/

https://twitter.com/aarthir

Follow the podcast:

https://www.instagram.com/aarthiandsriramshow/

https://twitter.com/aarthisrirampod

EP 77 - Why USA’s Skilled Immigration System Is Broken, Zuck’s New Look, WWE WrestleMania 40, Llama 3, More Apr 28, 2024

Show notes

Sriram and Aarthi respond to your reaction to the immigration episode.

Show notes:

(0:00) We’re on a billboard

(2:38) Our podcast journey

(4:39) Response to our skilled immigration episode

(11:07) Core issues hindering skilled immigration

(23:07) Remembering our immigration process

(29:01) Recapping WrestleMania 40

(49:21) Mark Zuckerberg’s personal rebrand

(54:00) Meta releases Llama 3

Other episodes you might enjoy:

EP 76 - How To Fix Legal Immigration In America

EP 74 - How To Fix Google's WOKE AI Disaster

EP 63 - Lessons From Networking In Silicon Valley

EP 59 - Why We Moved to London, The Elon Musk Book, Should You Get An MBA

Follow Sriram:

https://www.instagram.com/sriramk/

https://twitter.com/sriramk

Follow Aarthi:

https://www.instagram.com/aarthir/

https://twitter.com/aarthir

Follow the podcast:

https://www.instagram.com/aarthiandsriramshow/

https://twitter.com/aarthisrirampod

EP 75 - The Vivek Ramaswamy Interview: Immigration, TikTok Ban, Jake Paul vs Mike Tyson, Social Media Wokeness, More Mar 17, 2024

Show notes

Entrepreneur and politician Vivek Ramaswamy joins The Sriram and Aarthi Show to discuss lessons from his political campaign, wokeness in social media, the potential TikTok Ban, his views on crypto, how to fix immigration, and more.

Show notes:

(0:00) Intro

(1:25) Lessons from entrepreneurship & campaigning

(9:00) Disagreements in debates

(12:55) TikTok Ban

(20:31) Wokeness in social media

(24:20) Vivek's views on crypto

(28:30) Podcasting strategy for Vivek's campaign

(33:00) Legal and illegal immigration

(37:17) Jake Paul vs Mike Tyson

(38:12) Vivek signs off in Tamil!

—

Other episodes you might enjoy:

EP 74 - How To Fix Google's WOKE AI Disaster

EP 63 - Lessons From Networking In Silicon Valley

EP 59 - Why We Moved to London, The Elon Musk Book, Should You Get An MBA

Follow Sriram:

https://www.instagram.com/sriramk/

https://twitter.com/sriramk

Follow Aarthi:

https://www.instagram.com/aarthir/

https://twitter.com/aarthir

Follow the podcast:

https://www.instagram.com/aarthiandsriramshow/

https://twitter.com/aarthisrirampod

EP 74 - How To Fix Google's WOKE AI Disaster Mar 11, 2024

Show notes

Sriram and Aarthi talk about Google's Gemini disaster after viral 'woke' photos surface.

Show notes:

(0:00) Welcome to the new studio!

(4:13) Our best AI episodes

(10:23) Google Gemini’s launch controversy

(17:15) How can Google fix Gemini?

(20:55) What Gemini gets right

(26:11) The rise of Groq

(35:37) NVIDIA and Jenson Huang are on top of the world

(42:14) Is Sora going to replace Hollywood?

—

Other episodes you might enjoy:

EP 63 - Lessons From Networking In Silicon Valley

EP 61 - The Reality of Raising Kids in the Tech Industry

EP 59 - Why We Moved to London, The Elon Musk Book, Should You Get An MBA

Follow Sriram:

https://www.instagram.com/sriramk/

https://twitter.com/sriramk

Follow Aarthi:

https://www.instagram.com/aarthir/

https://twitter.com/aarthir

Follow the podcast:

https://www.instagram.com/aarthiandsriramshow/

https://twitter.com/aarthisrirampod

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