E00: Welcome to The Chris Rod Max Show!
Chris, Rod and Max introduce themselves and outline the purpose of the podcast. They discuss the mystification of AI and the rapid changes happening in the field. They emphasize that AI is a long-term trend that will have a significant impact on various industries. The accessibility of AI tools is highlighted, allowing individuals from different backgrounds to leverage these technologies.
The hosts also discuss the themes and topics that will be covered in future episodes, including automation operations and the second and third-order consequences of AI. They explore the role of AI in startups and the changing landscape of entrepreneurship. The goal is to build a community of AI builders and explore the opportunities that AI presents.
Takeaways
- AI is a long-term trend that will have a significant impact on various industries.
- AI tools are becoming more accessible, allowing individuals from different backgrounds to leverage these technologies.
- The podcast will cover topics such as automation operations, the second and third-order consequences of AI, and the role of AI in startups.
- The hosts aim to build a community of AI builders and explore the opportunities that AI presents.
Chapters
- 00:00 Introduction and Background
- 01:03 The Mystification of AI
- 04:15 The Impact of AI on Different Industries
- 06:08 The Accessibility of AI Tools
- 07:02 Themes and Topics for the Podcast
- 08:36 The Role of AI in Startups
- 10:48 The Changing Landscape of Entrepreneurship
- 13:16 Building a Community of AI Builders
- 14:04 Exploring Opportunities in AI
- 14:38 Conclusion and Future Episodes
Episode Transcript
Rod (00:02)
Hi everyone, welcome!
Christine (00:06)
Hey.
Max (00:08)
Hello, hello.
Rod (00:10)
So this is our first episode and we decided we want to introduce ourselves to the audience, to outline what they can expect, what we want to do this season, and what we think about this show. Why don't we start with you, Christine Wang ? Who are you? Why are you here?
Christine (00:26)
Yeah, hi guys. Nice to meet you all. My name is Christine and I am a business operator. I come from different industries. The last one was in travel and mobility tech. I'm really excited to talk to you guys about AI. I know a lot of companies are thinking about AI, how to implement it, and how to leverage its full potential. I think this will be really exciting to discuss in this podcast.
Rod (01:02)
I agree. Through discussions we've been having for many months, we identified that so much is happening and there are many changes going on, yet it's still quite mystified. Even if one is deep in the weeds, things are changing so fast that it's hard to keep up. The other day I looked at open source libraries for AI and there are more than 11,000, but the vast majority have been abandoned in recent months. So many things are happening, but there's also a lot of fat and trends. AI is here to stay, but what will change? What about you Max? Why are you here today?
Max (01:50)
Hi everyone, nice to meet you. My name is Maxson J.Y. Tee . I'm generally excited about the 11,000 libraries out there and how many more AI libraries are going to expand. I'd love to spend time talking to two very experienced people in the AI field and learn more. From my perspective, coming from the financial services and fintech space, I'd like to bring some insight into how banks are thinking about using AI and how AI will change financial services and vice versa. That's what will be super exciting to share with the audience and learn from both of you.
Rod (02:35)
I'm Rod. My background is that I did a PhD in machine learning and have always been in technical roles, interested in everything connected to machine learning, data science, and now artificial intelligence for quite a while. Over the years, I've seen many waves of advances. This isn't the first time, and it brings back memories from 8-10 years ago when a lot happened but many in the industry were disappointed because they experienced those waves that didn't materialize. The hopes and expectations weren't fulfilled. Now I see that it's different, but many don't fully believe it. One of my motivations for being here is to show that this is something that will stay with us forever, or at least for the rest of our lives. We have to be prepared because the changes that are coming will happen very fast and we need to be ready for it.
Christine (03:41)
Picking up on that, I'm hearing that many people believe this will be the new internet era with major disruptions and shifts. On the other side, some think, what is the real ROI on an AI chatbot? Is it just gamified and playable until people lose interest because the human connection is so important? What are your thoughts on that?
Max (04:15)
Overall, when it comes to AI, I think of it a bit like the internet. If the internet lasted so long for the past 20 years and changed lives a lot - certainly my life in the past 10 years and next 10 years are so different now - what will happen if AI comes true like in sci-fi fiction? How close will we get to that? What we're trying to do here is separate fact from fiction when it comes to building AI and learn from what the market is doing while opining a bit on what we're seeing from the outside. That's really exciting for me. Rod, from a PhD perspective, what are some key things you'd like our audience to take away, given you've been in this space for such a long time?
Rod (05:18)
One of the biggest changes I see is that historically, AI advancements were pretty much academic. To apply them in industry, one needed to be an expert with a PhD who had been doing this for decades. What's happened is a big change where pretty much everyone is able to use these tools, treat them as black boxes, and still get amazing results. People need to realize it's not just about accepting that this has changed, but also that anyone can be accelerated by these changes. It doesn't matter if you're a marketing manager or a developer, you can use these tools and technologies to enhance your workflows.
Max (06:07)
That's interesting. I think it's a bit like the internet. At the start, nobody knew how TCP/IP worked, but now somehow everybody understands and can talk about it. It's become common. I think AI will eventually get to a state where it's applied in many spaces and everyone gets to use it in their day-to-day life. Christine, coming from multi-industry experience, you've obviously seen the effects of digital. We'd love to hear your thoughts on the future effects of AI across the industries you've been in.
Christine (06:53)
Yes, this is something we'll be discussing in our different seasons. We want to approach it by talking about a certain theme or topic per season. In the first season, we'll focus on automation and operations. I believe that's a very important topic top of mind for many business executives thinking about how to improve efficiency and the bottom line. But we also want to explore second and third order consequences. What does this trend actually mean? How will it change the way we interact and work together? What implications might it have for society? It's going to be really exciting to discuss this with our guest speakers.
Rod (07:54)
Exactly. I find the idea of having seasons fantastic because we're seeing impacts in so many areas. We're witnessing industry automation, but I also look at how financial services is completely changing. Max, in your case being in financial services, you must be seeing this and thinking the way we work today is transforming completely. By containing this in a format where someone active in that industry can come listen and get takeaways from our guests and insights, I see potential value for them.
Max (08:35)
Definitely. The term "reimagining finance" has been around as long as my career. Now with the technology itself, practitioners could really learn something, bring it to their day-to-day business, and try to reimagine how to do things differently. It's similar to other platform shifts. The AI space is going to bring about a lot of those changes. Personally, my colleagues and I spend a lot of time studying this. Hence we thought it would be a good idea to try demystifying some of those solutions as we go, especially by industry and function as Christine said. Those are important distinctions when working with different players in this space. Christine and Rod, you folks have run and built businesses before. From an entrepreneur's perspective, what can they think about getting out of the show?
Christine (09:54)
I think quite a bit. We're trying to serve two audiences here. On one hand, there are many companies and business executives who want to understand the AI landscape, perhaps connect with a startup to use a tool that can really enable their company, for example on the creation or operation side. On the other hand, we want to help startups get their brand and story out there, share how they got to where they are, and discuss their product roadmap and overall ambition. What are your thoughts on that, Rod?
Rod (10:48)
I see this as both a threatening and exciting time for startups. On one side, AI is a buzzword and everyone is trying to build things around it. But at the same time, AI has eliminated the moat where it accelerates us. Just as we can be faster, our peers are also as fast and any innovation we have is easily replicated.
For startups, the question becomes how to differentiate themselves. Organizationally, it used to be that building a venture required a lot of capital and hiring many people, especially developers. But these tools are showing us that small teams can do a lot. We can be fast, nimble, and get amazing results to be the best in our field and market.
With our seasons, I want to show startups where the opportunities are, which industries need transformation and what kind, so they can focus on the problem rather than the easily replicated technology.
Max (12:04)
That's very true. I've been thinking about this, as Sam Altman said - the one man, one woman team billion dollar company. I long for that day to come. It will be interesting to see how it develops. If we find these people, we'll definitely try to feature them on the show so everyone can learn something, focusing on the problems and using technology as a solution. When one day everyone can become their own business owner by just leveraging AI, it will be quite interesting. We hope to highlight some of those examples and ultimately aim to build a community of AI builders and users. The idea is to connect people together to do something cool in the world. Maybe that's idealistic, but that's how I think about it.
Christine (13:15)
I think it's very exciting guys, I'm really looking forward to it.
Rod (13:21)
Absolutely. Max, you brought up an amazing point about everyone becoming an entrepreneur and starting their own businesses. I see this as another mega trend with all the automation happening. Given that we'll have smaller companies with fewer people, we need to think about what happens to those who no longer have a place in these organizations. Of course there are techno-optimists who say there will be new professions for everyone. But there's the other side who say this could lead to significant unemployment. If those affected need to find something new, maybe with our podcast we can shed light on the opportunities in this space.
Christine (14:03)
That's right. Our podcast will be touching on quite a few topics, themes, dynamics, trends, and opportunities. We'll be brainstorming with you guys along the journey, covering new trends we see in the news, and discussing the different companies we'll be interviewing more in depth.
Rod (14:38)
Fantastic. I'm sure everyone will be tuning in every week. We'll be releasing an episode every week for the next few months. Looking forward to discussing all this with you, Christine, Max, and our upcoming guests.
Christine (14:56)
That sounds really fantastic. Looking forward to it, guys.
Max (15:01)
Thank you very much.