Latest Interviews
Showing 136–150 of 1,990 transcripts.
Clear all filtersFigure's First Full HQ Tour: From the Lab to the Factory Floor
Brett Adcock, Molly O'Shea, Moritz
Figure AI is a Bay Area-based pure-play manufacturer with a 500-person engineering workforce deploying its flagship Figure 3 humanoid robot, which operates autonomously using the locally running Helix AI policy. The company has achieved record production output at its "Baku" facility while reducing unit costs by 90% compared to previous models, enabling deployments in settings ranging from the White House to BMW automotive assembly lines. Looking ahead, Figure aims to commercialize a lease-based home model and advance toward its "iPhone moment" with the upcoming Figure 4, which targets radical improvements in cost and usability while pursuing physical interaction-based AGI.
- Milken Institute51 min
Bending the Cost Curve: Understanding the GLP-1 Era | Global Conference 2025
Josh Barro, Michael Ferro, Simon Johnson, Lisa Stevens
A panel of industry leaders and medical experts analyzed GLP-1 drugs as a transformative treatment that significantly improves cardiovascular health and reduces long-term healthcare costs, provided patients adhere to therapy. The discussion highlighted a critical adherence gap where global discontinuation rates reach 50%, contrasting with a UK pilot program that achieved 98% retention through AI-driven telehealth and mandatory screening. While facing challenges like high initial costs, supply chain fraud, and societal stigma, successful employer-led programs are emerging as essential mechanisms to manage access, ensure safety, and align financial incentives for sustained workforce productivity.
- Y Combinator41 min
Demis Hassabis: Agents, AGI & The Next Big Scientific Breakthrough
DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis projects Artificial General Intelligence will emerge around 2030, contingent on inventing specific architectural breakthroughs in continual learning and structured memory rather than merely scaling current methods. While deep tech startups are warned to anticipate AGI disrupting their decade-long cycles, the organization is simultaneously deploying efficient, modular "Flash" and open-source nano models to power edge devices and accelerate scientific discovery in fields like drug design and materials science. Ultimately, DeepMind advocates for interdisciplinary collaboration between AI and physical sciences to overcome current reasoning limitations and drive the next generation of autonomous agents.
- a16z58 min
Aaron Levie on AI Adoption and Enterprise Workflows | The a16z Show
Aaron Levie, Steven Sinofsky, Martin Casado
Organizations are pivoting from failed centralized AI mandates to integrating autonomous agents directly into legacy workflows, necessitating significant architectural shifts beyond traditional hybrid software models. While token-gaming and system integration bottlenecks currently stifle productivity gains, the resulting increase in infrastructure complexity and code volume is projected to drive sustained demand for engineering talent rather than reduce it. This transition requires years of organizational change management to modernize fragmented data environments, ultimately creating a multi-decade opportunity for system integrators to bridge the gap between probabilistic machine users and rigid enterprise security protocols.
- Milken Institute41 min
Conversation with KKR Co-Founders Henry Kravis and George Roberts | Global Conference 2025
Henry Kravis, George Roberts, Jason Kelly
Founded by Henry Kravis and George Roberts, KKR currently manages $664 billion in assets while deploying capital at a rate exceeding $30 billion annually, with a strategic focus on infrastructure and Asian markets. Co-CEOs Scott Nuttall and Joe Bay are driving a retailization strategy that has tripled the firm's alternative asset offerings to $21 billion, aiming to democratize private equity access for 401(k) investors. Amidst rising tariff concerns, the firm prioritizes linear capital deployment and global self-reliance trends, particularly in Europe and India, while maintaining a balanced portfolio structure distinct from real estate or highly leveraged ventures.
- Milken Institute46 min
Time to Build: Accelerating & De-risking Israel's Economic Growth, Recovery | Global Conference 2025
Glenn Yago, Tilli Kalisky-Bannett, Eugene Kandel, Michael Kashani, Seffy Zinger
Organized by the Milken Innovation Center, the "Time to Build" panel convenes policymakers and financiers to detail Israel's strategy for accelerating economic recovery while de-risking the high-tech sector following the October 7 attacks. The session highlights resilience metrics such as the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange's outperformance during wartime, alongside new regulatory initiatives like Yozma 2 and blended finance models designed to mobilize domestic capital and diversify away from foreign dependency. By integrating underrepresented populations into the labor market and leveraging AI for reconstruction, the panel frames a generational opportunity to transform the national economy through a coordinated public-private-philanthropic approach.
- Jane Street1h 8m
Production Engineering When Trading Billions of Dollars a Day
Mark, a production engineer at Jane Street, outlines a high-stakes trading environment where even a 0.01% error rate can trigger insolvency, necessitating a monitoring strategy that rejects standard service level objectives in favor of code-level, event-based alerts. The firm employs a defense-in-depth approach using redundant, symptom-focused detection systems to catch catastrophic failures like fat-finger trades or stale market data before they cascade. By integrating deep domain knowledge into incident response and treating monitoring infrastructure as more critical than the trading systems themselves, Jane Street ensures that traders and engineers collaborate to resolve unique operational risks with extreme precision.
- Goldman Sachs31 min
Reimagining Biopharma: Precision Medicine, Patients, and Purpose with Takeda CEO-Elect
Takeda's Board unanimously appointed Julie Kim as the incoming President and CEO, effective June 2026, to steer the $30 billion pharmaceutical giant through a strategic overhaul centered on AI-driven discovery and organic growth. During her incoming tenure, Kim plans to leverage the company's Japanese headquarters for geopolitical flexibility while navigating complex regulatory hurdles regarding Chinese clinical data and U.S. pricing structures. Her leadership strategy emphasizes "market innovation" to improve patient access and utilizes a "giving people an A" philosophy to accelerate talent development within the organization.
- Milken Institute1h 0m
Leading the Democratic Party into the Future | Global Conference 2025
Josh Barro, Jon Cowan, Jason Furman, Sarah Longwell, Chuck Rocha, Neera Tanden
Post-2024 election strategists including Neera Tanden, Jason Furman, and Sarah Longwell analyze the Democratic Party's defeat by highlighting a disconnect between popular policy platforms and voter perceptions of economic insecurity and cultural identity. The panel identifies critical failures in messaging regarding inflation and immigration, noting that the party's heavy spending on abortion rights and reliance on a "consultant class" alienated the white working-class coalition essential for winning swing states. To secure future victories, experts recommend a strategic pivot toward authentic working-class narratives, an "all-of-the-above" energy approach, and a departure from activist-driven constraints to re-engage moderate voters on issues of cost of living and national security.
- a16z1h 6m
Balaji Srinivasan on The Future of AI | The a16z Show
Balaji Srinivasan, Erik Torenberg
The speaker redefines human-AI collaboration by positioning humans as strategic leaders who direct specialized AI "actors," creating a trusted ecosystem where value shifts toward personalized, private instances and verification services. Parallel to this technological evolution, the discussion details a bifurcated future for digital currency in which Bitcoin serves as transparent institutional collateral while Zcash-powered tools like Zedal provide quantum-resistant privacy for individual transactions. Ultimately, the presentation argues that political constraints and resource scarcity will prevent centralized AI dominance, fostering a polytheistic landscape of decentralized models and democratized global entrepreneurship.
A Rare Look Inside Applied Intuition’s Physical AI Garage
Qasar Younis, Peter Ludwig, Molly O'Shea
Applied Intelligence deploys a unified end-to-end AI platform across six industrial sectors, serving 18 of the top 20 global automakers and the U.S. military with solutions for autonomous mining, trucking, and maritime operations. Led by CEO Peter Ruch, the company modernizes legacy infrastructure by consolidating disparate electronics into single compute units, leveraging dual-use hardware to address acute labor shortages and safety crises in defense and heavy industry. Operating from 18 global sites while excluding China due to IP concerns, Applied Intelligence is currently commercializing Gen 2 autonomous trucks in Japan and expanding its "Physical AI" footprint into the Middle East and Latin America.
- Milken Institute1h 3m
Credit Outlook | Global Conference 2025
Michael Milken, Lee Kruter, Drew McKnight, Purnima Puri, James Reynolds, Christian Stracke
Driven by the 2023 banking retrenchment and rising institutional demand for yield, major asset managers including PIMCO, Fortress, and Goldman Sachs are shifting capital from traditional lending to non-investment-grade private credit and alternative financing structures. Panelists identify significant growth opportunities in undervalued asset-based credit, data center infrastructure, and expanding markets in Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East, while emphasizing defensive strategies focused on recovery rates rather than default probabilities. Despite regulatory uncertainties and untested default cycles, experts project the sector will scale significantly to fill the void left by contracting bank balance sheets.
- Milken Institute17 min
Time to Heal: Bring the Hostages Home Now, A Conversation with Noa Argamani | Global Conference 2025
At the Milken Institute Global Conference, rescued hostage Noam Gamani detailed the lethal conditions and ongoing execution of captives held in Gaza, specifically highlighting the unresolved status of her partner Avi Natan. Gamani, recognized as a 2025 *Time* 100 inductee, urged global leaders to maintain relentless public pressure through visible advocacy to secure a comprehensive negotiation deal for the 59 remaining hostages. She emphasized that the crisis remains an active war zone where daily casualties occur unless immediate diplomatic action addresses the imminent threat of death for those still imprisoned.
- Milken Institute18 min
A Conversation with Fernando Haddad, Minister of Finance of Brazil | Global Conference 2025
Fernando Haddad, Laura Deal Lacey
President Lula's administration projects a sustainable 3% annual economic growth trajectory through structural tax reforms, a new carbon market, and a Vice Presidential-led reindustrialization plan targeting hundreds of billions in private investment. This domestic strategy is reinforced by a dedicated National Data Center Policy promoting green digital infrastructure and solidified international partnerships under the G20 and BRICS frameworks to drive climate governance and the upcoming COP30 summit. With advanced infrastructure concessions and commitments such as a $34 billion corporate investment package, Brazil positions itself as a secure hub for sustainable capital seeking alignment with its 90% clean energy matrix.
- Goldman Sachs21 min
AI Exchanges: Power Problems?
Brian Singer, Alison Nathan, George Lee
Goldman Sachs projects a 220% surge in global data center power demand by 2030 as hyperscalers commit over $300 billion to infrastructure, a trajectory comparable to adding the world's sixth-largest power consumer to the grid. This aggressive expansion faces severe bottlenecks in skilled labor and transmission supply, forcing a near-term reliance on natural gas simple-cycle generators while industry leaders navigate regulatory hurdles and "agentic" AI traffic growth. Despite the high capital intensity and a potential $40 per megawatt-hour premium for green energy, major technology firms maintain robust balance sheets to fund these transition costs while seeking to decouple their power expenses from consumer utility rates.