Christopher Kirchhoff helped launch a Defense Department office that aimed to bring Silicon Valley technology to the US military. Christopher’s problem is this: How can the giant bureaucracy that is the US military keep up with technological change?
Get early, ad-free access to episodes of What’s Your Problem? by subscribing to Pushkin+ on Apple Podcasts or Pushkin.fm. Pushkin+ subscribers can access ad-free episodes, full audiobooks, exclusive binges, and bonus content for all Pushkin shows.
Subscribe on Apple: apple.co/pushkin
Subscribe on Pushkin: pushkin.com/plus
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Using AI for Creative Work
A few weeks ago, Jacob Goldstein sat down with a writer and a composer on a stage in Chicago to talk about artificial intelligence. The conversation, which was part of the Chicago Humanities Festival, aimed to…
The Little-Known Office With $400 Billion to Fight Climate Change
Jigar Shah is the director of the Loan Programs Office at the U.S. Department of Energy. Last year, as part of the Inflation Reduction Act, Congress allocated hundreds of billions of dollars for Jigar’s office…
How AI Solved a Biological Mystery
Pushmeet Kohli is vice president of research at DeepMind, an AI research group that is part of Google. Every protein has a unique shape. And understanding a protein’s shape is key to understanding how proteins…
Making Oxygen on Mars
Forrest Meyen is the co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer of Lunar Outpost, a company that builds machines that go to places like Mars and, if everything goes according to plan, the moon. The company is…
The sold-out chips at the heart of AI
Brannin McBee is the co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer at CoreWeave. A few years ago, he and a few friends started buying hardware to mine cryptocurrency. It turns out, the same hardware — chips known…
Special Episode: The Trial of Sam Bankman-Fried
Sam Bankman-Fried, the former crypto mogul, is on trial for fraud. On today’s show, we talk to Lidia Jean Kott, who is covering the trial for another Pushkin show, about a dramatic day in court.…
Getting Yeast to Make Medicine
Christina Smolke is the co-founder and CEO of Antheia. Antheia is a synthetic biology company — they’re in the business of genetically engineering microorganisms to produce commercial products. Christina’s problem is this: How do you…
Could a Robot Make Your Salad?
Stephen Klein is the co-founder and CEO of Hyphen, a company that is developing an automated make line. Stephen’s problem is this: How do you make restaurant food from fresh ingredients… cheaper? Chipotle invested in…
What the Industrial Revolution Teaches Us About the AI Revolution
Simon Johnson is an MIT economist and the co-author of a new book called “Power and Progress: Our Thousand-Year Struggle over Technology and Prosperity”. Simon’s problem is this: How do you create the conditions for…
Can AI Tutors Help Kids Learn? Khan Academy Thinks So
Sal Khan is the founder and CEO of Khan Academy. Sal’s problem is this: How do you design an AI that can give students the kind of benefits they’d get from working with a human…