The All Turtles Podcast

Latest Episodes:

013: Monday Night Fever Jan 31, 2018

Show notes

We check in with Jeremy Vandehey, co-founder and CEO of Disco, just 24 hours after his company's successful launch. Jeremy explains the benefits of building a culture of appreciation and celebrating the contributions of all team members. Your hosts Phil Libin, Jessica Collier, and Blaise Zerega also tackle the tangled connection between .ai, .io, and colonialism, introduce a new segment called "Advice to Politicians," and share their admiration for the late Ursula K. Le Guin. Listener questions include such topics as robots caring for the elderly, and All Turtles' plans for 2020.

Show notes

Colonialism, .ai, and .io (1:42)

The dark side of .io: How the U.K. is making web domain profits from a shady Cold War land deal (GigaOm)

5,000 .ai domains registered

Vince Cate web site

New segment: Advice to our elected officials (4:41)

Hillbillies who code: the former miners out to put Kentucky on the tech map (The Guardian)

For Job Retraining Programs To Work, People Need To Show Up (NPR)

The Retraining Paradox (The New York Times)

Appreciation: Ursula K. Le Guin (12:37)

Ursula K. Le Guin website

Steering the Craft: Exercises and Discussions on Story Writing for the Lone Navigator or the Mutinous Crew by Ursula K. Le Guin (See page 17 of the Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 2015 edition by Mariner Books)

Le Guin's letter to editor John Radziewicz

Send reading suggestions for our book club to hello@all-turtles.com

Conversation with Jeremy Vandehey, co-founder and CEO of Disco (18:01)

Disco

A startup from Phil Libin's 'studio' thinks its artificial intelligence will make employees happier at work (Business Insider)

Listener questions

Why are robots caring for elderly patients with Alzheimer's? Shouldn't this require empathy, something that AI lacks? (39:39)

What have you learned so far? What are All Turtles' plans for 2020? (43:20)

We want to hear from you

Please send us your comments, suggested topics, and questions for future episodes:

Email: hello@all-turtles.com

Twitter: @allturtlesco with hashtag #askAT

For more from All Turtles, follow us on Twitter, and subscribe to our newsletter on our website.

Thanks for listening

012: Easy Rider Jan 24, 2018

Show notes

We check in with Ken Inoue, general manager of All Turtles Tokyo, who explains that being regarded as a "bent nail" can be a good thing. Ken also discusses the "black ships" phenomenon and tells us that Japan is a pun-loving nation. Your hosts Phil Libin, Jessica Collier, and Blaise Zerega share encounters with everyday AI when using Safari on mobile, seeking information on Michelangelo, and going for a mountain bike ride with Strava. Along the way, they answer questions about AI taking jobs and startups with .ai URL suffixes.

Show notes

Everyday interactions with AI

Auto-suggested Google searches within iOS -- Phil (2:02)

Michelangelo at the Met or Uber Michelangelo? -- Blaise (3:05)

Strava as a ride-partner finding service -- Jessica (4:35)

Conversation with Ken Inoue, general manager of All Turtles Tokyo (7:41)

"The nail that sticks out shall be hammered down" (12:30)

Japanese politicians force colleague with baby to leave chamber (20:43)

Black Ships (25:08)

Phil's three sentences to drop into everyday conversation:

"I'm spending this week working out of the Tokyo office."
"Set the controls for the heart of the sun" -- Pink Floyd
"Fire the explosive bolts!" -- Dr. Strangelove

Contact: hellojapan@all-turtles.com

Listener questions

AI will kill jobs. What can we do about? (32:48)

The number of startups with .ai URL suffixes doubled in 2017. Is this evidence of AI hype? (38:54)

Bonus

How we come up with episode titles (45:10)

We want to hear from you

Please send us your comments, suggested topics, and questions for future episodes:

Email: hello@all-turtles.com

Twitter: @allturtlesco with hashtag #askAT

For more from All Turtles, follow us on Twitter, and subscribe to our newsletter on our website.

Thanks for listening

011: Batteries Not Included Jan 17, 2018

Show notes

We check in with Octane AI cofounder and COO Ben Parr about bots and ecommerce, and the surprising ways parrots may help build company culture. Along the way hosts Phil Libin, Jessica Collier, and Blaise Zerega question the importance of boards of directors in a segment called, "Maybe it's kinda bull----?" They also discuss whether design can address ethical concerns for AI and what the demise of Facebook M means for chatbots.

Show notes

Boards of directors: Maybe it's kinda bull----? (1:40)

The Board's Most Important Function (Harvard Business Review)

The Board of Directors: Role and Responsibilities (Fred Wilson, AVC.com)

Interview with Ben Parr, Octane AI cofounder and COO (13:01)

Octane AI

Automating Your Sales (MSNBC)

Cult of the Party Parrot

Listener Questions

How do you think about AI and ethical challenges, and how do you help studio companies think about them? (34:11)

It was just announced that Facebook is killing Facebook M. What does that mean for the AI industry? (40:07)

We want to hear from you

Please send us your comments, suggested topics, and questions for future episodes:

Email: hello@all-turtles.com

Twitter: @allturtlesco with hashtag #askAT

For more from All Turtles, follow us on Twitter, and subscribe to our newsletter on our website.

Thanks for listening

010: Buy Hard Jan 10, 2018

Show notes

The new year began with an ominous forecast: 12,000 U.S. retail stores are expected to close in 2018, a 33-percent increase from 2017. Hosts Phil Libin, Jessica Collier, and Blaise Zerega examine what this means for jobs, shopping, and the proverbial Main Street full of mom-and-pop stores. They manage to agree that online advertising has never been more annoying and pervasive, and debate whether AI will improve things anytime soon. Listener questions include hyper-personalization and differences between Japanese and American entrepreneurs.

Show notes

12,000 retail stores predicted to close in 2018 (00:57)

A tsunami of store closings is about to hit the US — and it's expected to eclipse the retail carnage of 2017 (Business Insider)

Fellow pour-over kettle

(Image credit: Fellow)

Why Kurt Vonnegut used a typewriter (Descriptedlines)

Intrusive, online advertising (16:58)

The Attention Deficit (The Baffler), a review of The Attention Merchants: The Epic Scramble to Get Inside Our Heads by Tim Wu

How privacy will change internet advertising in 2018 (Boomtown)

Adblock Plus: "Surf the web without annoying ads!"

What is post-purchase marketing? (Iconic Digital)

Predictions for 2018 (25:03)

Panera Bread

(Image credit: Mike Mozart Flickr/Creative Commons)

Pantera, the band

(Image credit: Pantera/Facebook)

Pantera, an Italian sports car

(Image credit: Car Photography Tutorials)

Listener questions (33:02)

YouTube as an example of successful hyper-personalization as discussed in Episode 5 (33:25)

Testing Russian Military MRE (YouTube)

How are entrepreneurs in Japan different from entrepreneurs in the U.S.? (38:20)

We want to hear from you

Please send us your comments, suggested topics, and questions for future episodes:

Email: hello@all-turtles.com

Twitter: @allturtlesco with hashtag #askAT

For more from All Turtles, follow us on Twitter, and subscribe to our newsletter on our website.

Thanks for listening

009: Chat with Me Jan 03, 2018

Show notes

We check in with Replika CEO and cofounder Eugenia Kuyda shortly after her company's AI confidant became available to more than 1.5 million people on a waitlist. Hosts Phil Libin, Jessica Collier, and Blaise Zerega speak with Eugenia about the challenges of creating an AI friend that is always there for you. She shares what differentiates Replika from conventional chatbots, therapy apps, and voice assistants like Siri and Alexa, drawing connections between how we behave towards AI and towards each other. Listener questions include glucose monitors and whether growth hacking works.

Show notes

Interview with Eugenia Kuyda, CEO of Replika (1:11)

Replika

Speak, Memory (The Verge)

What my personal chat bot is teaching me about AI's future (Wired)

Replika Is A Strangely Therapeutic Chatbot For Talking To Yourself (Vocativ)

Listener Questions

What glucose monitor did Phil wear while fasting? (44:07)

Is growth hacking important? (45:57)

We want to hear from you

Please send us your comments, suggested topics, and questions for future episodes:

Email: hello@all-turtles.com

Twitter: @allturtlesco with hashtag #askAT

For more from All Turtles, follow us on Twitter, and subscribe to our newsletter on our website.

Thanks for listening

008: Apocalypse Later Dec 19, 2017

Show notes

Robots taking jobs. The AI apocalypse. Universal basic income. These themes encompass the fears of many parents as they think about a future for their children. In this week's episode, Phil Libin, Jessica Collier, and Blaise Zerega address this worry and include advice from the likes of Senator Mark Warner, Kai-fu Lee, and Stephen Wolfram. Your hosts also assess notable developments in practical AI from 2017 and share their daily encounters with iMessage, LinkedIn, and financial services app Penny.

Show notes

Developments in practical AI from 2017 (00:45)

AlphaGo Zero (01:51)

Voice assistants go mainstream (04:57)

Everyday AI use cases

iMessage autofill for calendar (6:12)

LinkedIn Premium for U.S. military veterans; Thank you for your service (7:30)

Penny, a financial services bot (8:46)

Listener question

What should I tell my two-year old daughter to help her survive the AI apocalypse? (11:45)

Senator Mark Warner, interviewed by Blaise Zerega on May 30, 2017, at the New Deal Ideas Summit in San Francisco.

Kai-Fu Lee, interviewed by Blaise Zerega on May 22, 2017, over lunch in San Francisco.

Stephen Wolfram, interviewed by Blaise Zerega on May 4, 2017, onstage with Group M's Irwin Gottlieb at the Collision Conference in New Orleans.

Cafe X first Robotic Cafe in USA Robot Baristas serve up coffee

Meet SAM, the bricklaying robot

Building Tomorrow - Robotics in Construction

Tomorrow Daily - Japanese construction firm using robotic bulldozers guided by drones, Ep. 257

Wolfram Alpha: What jobs will still be important after the AI revolution?

Will Robots Take Our Children's Jobs? (The New York Times)

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, by Yuval Noah Harari (2014)

Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow, by Yuval Noah Harari (2016)

We want to hear from you

Please send us your comments, suggested topics, and questions for future episodes:

Email: hello@all-turtles.com

Twitter: @allturtlesco with hashtag #askAT

For more from All Turtles, follow us on Twitter, and subscribe to our newsletter on our website.

Thanks for listening

007: The Running Man Dec 12, 2017

Show notes

This week's guest Veronica Belmont shares wisdom and tips from more than a decade of podcasting and recounts her journey to product manager of Growbot. Hosts Phil Libin, Jessica Collier, and Blaise Zerega speak with Belmont about privacy and anonymity, AI and chatbots, communication and diversity, and the importance of authentic company values. They also discuss the many, many reasons to be polite to your voice assistants. Your hosts revisit the role of AI in battling information asymmetry and reveal two AI products they'd like to see made next year.

Show notes

Information Asymmetry (1:16)

Previous discussion of information asymmetry in All Turtles Podcast Episode 3 (27:04)(iTunes)

E.F. Hutton: Stock broker with access to exclusive information (YouTube)

Phil Libin on historical asymmetries of information (Quora)

Interview with Veronica Belmont, product manager of Growbot (6:55)

Veronica Belmont

Veronica Belmont bio (Wikipedia)

Growbot

IRL (Podcast)

Sword and Laser (Podcast)

Tor (The Tor Project)

Jad Abumrad (Radiolab)

Veronica Belmont's podcasting protips (19:45)

Phil Libin on fart apps and crap bots

How to outrun a bear (Backpacker)

Listener questions (39:47)

Does All Turtles work with teams that are not on the West Coast? (39:59)

What AI products would you like to see developed in 2018? (40:55)

006: The Twilight Drone Dec 06, 2017

Show notes

This week's show is devoted to security and trust. After hackers stole the records of 57 million Uber customers and drivers last year, the company failed to disclose the data breach and paid the hackers $100,000. Your hosts Phil Libin, Jessica Collier, and Blaise Zerega offer the ride-sharing company no sympathy and explore what's needed to safeguard everything from DNA to airports to social security numbers. They talk with Alex Pachikov, CEO of Sunflower Labs, who aims to reinvent home security with autonomous drones and AI. Your hosts also consider the roles of HR and physical security devices in the sexual harassment allegations against TV host Matt Lauer.

Show notes

Uber security breach (01:02)

Uber Hid 2016 Breach, Paying Hackers to Delete Stolen Data (The New York Times)

Genetic testing threatens the insurance industry (The Economist)

Transportation Security Administration: What Can I Bring? (TSA)

Will biometrics "active authentication" help do away with passwords? (CBS News)

Interview with Alex Pachikov, CEO of Sunflower Labs (17:05)

Sunflower Labs

Sunflower Home Awareness System (video)

Under The Shell: Sunflower Labs takes flight

Listener questions (41:00)

Is there an app that can help stop sexual harassment? (41:18)

Matt Lauer Accused of Sexual Harassment by Multiple Women (Variety)

What's with the secret button Matt Lauer allegedly used to lock his door? (44:04)

About That Secret Button in Matt Lauer's Office

We want to hear from you

Please send us your comments, suggested topics, and questions for future episodes:

Email: hello@all-turtles.com

Twitter: @allturtlesco with hashtag #askAT

For more from All Turtles, follow us on Twitter, and subscribe to our newsletter on our website.

Thanks for listening

005: Raging Bull Nov 28, 2017

Show notes

Machine learning has shown the capacity to amplify our cultural and gender biases. Addressing the problem begins with admitting it exists. Join Hosts Phil Libin, Jessica Collier, and Blaise Zerega as they discuss ways to limit the impact of language that reinforces stereotypes. They also introduce a new segment called, "Maybe it's kinda bull----t?" which in this episode casts a skeptical eye on personalization. They evaluate the utility of intelligent assistants from the likes of Amazon, Apple, Facebook. Google, and Microsoft, and explain that not all startups should go international.

Show notes

Gender bias (00:56)

Man is to Computer Programmer as Woman is to Homemaker? Debiasing Word Embeddings

Reference Software's Grammatik

Grammarly

Friday Night Lights

Personalization: Maybe it's kinda bullshit? (15:35)

Yahoo personalized home page

Listener questions

Please rate the voice assistants from Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft (29:30)

Is New York the new Silicon Valley? (32:00)

When should startups expand internationally? (34:36)

Everyday interactions with AI

A non-intuitive shortcut on Digit, a passive savings tool (36:09)

A wine club that uses AI-based recommendations (39:19)

iOS update includes male and female versions of CEO emoji (43:10)

We want to hear from you

Please send us your comments, suggested topics, and questions for future episodes:

Email: hello@all-turtles.com

Twitter: @allturtlesco with hashtag #askAT

For more from All Turtles, follow us on Twitter, and subscribe to our newsletter on our website.

Thanks for listening

004: Butter Nov 22, 2017

Show notes

Riding a rollercoaster, taking a leap of faith, and launching a rocket are just some of the phrases used to describe the challenge of starting a company. This week, your hosts Phil Libin, Jessica Collier, and Blaise Zerega dive into the day-to-day realities of being a cofounder to reveal the value of communication, problem solving, and good, old-fashioned hard work. Along the way, they check-in with Jack Hirsch, CEO of Butter.ai, to hear what he's learned two months after launch. Also, they debunk the gospel of the technical cofounder and describe their interactions with AI while watching HBO, conversing with Replika, and typing in iMessage.

Show notes

Watch a video about Butter

Listener questions

Why is Blaise's Replika a female? (31:22)

Do startups need a technical co-founder? (32:59)

How do people apply to the All Turtles startup studio? (35:40)

Everyday interactions with AI

Sir, your Grammarly is showing (38:29)