Latest Interviews
Showing 1231–1245 of 9,948 transcripts.
Clear all filters- The Economist6 min
Why are so many Colombians becoming mercenaries? | The Economist
Carla Subirana Artús, Rosie Blau
Colombia is rapidly emerging as a primary global source of mercenaries driven by a cohort of 13,000 soldiers exiting the military under President Gustavo Petro's policies combined with a lack of domestic veteran support. These former soldiers are increasingly recruited via social media to serve in high-risk foreign conflicts ranging from Sudan to Ukraine, while their deployment facilitates serious international crimes such as the assassination of Haiti's president. Although Colombia ratified the UN Anti-Mercenary Convention, experts argue that without comprehensive domestic pension reforms, the economic incentives for this growing export of armed labor will remain unchecked.
Thrive Raises New $10B Fund | OpenAI Buys OpenClaw | Stripe at $140B: Is Adyen Wildly Undervalued?
Jason Lemkin, Rory O'Driscoll, Harry Stebbings
Anthropic secured a $30 billion round at a $380 billion valuation while Thrive Capital closed a $10 billion fund, driving a market shift where venture capital prioritizes massive, concentrated stakes in AI infrastructure over traditional early-stage diversification. This momentum has inverted sentiment toward mature SaaS, causing public software stocks to trade at depressed multiples despite strong fundamentals as enterprises aggressively adopt AI agents that risk rendering legacy user interfaces obsolete. Meanwhile, the competitive landscape is evolving with OpenAI's acquisition of OpenClaw and Workday's leadership return, signaling that autonomous agents are reshaping security paradigms and forcing incumbent founders to confront the rapid disruption of established workflow tools.
- The Diary Of A CEO1h 37m
The Man Who Climbs Without A Rope: Sitting At Home Is More Dangerous Than Climbing | Alex Honnold
Alex Honnold, the renowned free solo climber, reframes risk as a calculated choice for self-actualization while contrasting his disciplined training against the unintended dangers of sedentary living. Beyond his athletic feats and family life, Honnold directs significant personal resources toward the Honnold Foundation, which has deployed over $13 million to provide energy access to 650,000 people across 30 countries. Looking forward, he advocates for "connecting the dots" through action rather than rigid planning, aiming for ambitious challenges like the "Free Triple" while urging others to embrace purposeful risk to avoid unfulfilled potential.
- Milken Institute31 min
Opportunities in Sustainability: Voice of Global Investors | Global Investors' Symposium São Paulo
Patricia Torres, Clara Barby, Tony Lent, Jens Nielsen, Wolfgang Schwerdtle
A recent high-level forum brought together investors from GIC, the World Climate Foundation, and Just Climate to align capital strategies with Brazil's mandate to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 59% to 67% below 2005 levels by 2035, prioritizing land use and agriculture over traditional energy transition. Participants identified a maturing market where average deal sizes are rising to $30 million, yet emphasized that overcoming data gaps and currency risks requires innovative financial instruments like off-take guarantees and specialized intermediaries. The dialogue concluded with a unified call for asset owners to appoint dedicated NBS executives and reallocate 2–3% of assets by 2025 to support scalable nature-based solutions that bridge the gap between venture and infrastructure capital.
- The Economist16 min
How to play chess like a grandmaster | The Economist
This analysis positions chess as a rigorous framework for human cognition, illustrating how expert players balance intuitive pattern recognition with deliberative calculation across the game's three distinct phases. The discussion highlights how modern AI engines, which prioritize probabilistic outcomes over traditional material evaluation, have paradoxically driven human players toward more aggressive and creative styles rather than rendering the game obsolete. Ultimately, the enduring surge in chess popularity despite AI dominance serves as a resilient precedent for human adaptation in an increasingly automated landscape.
- The Economist7 min
Finland’s president: are Europe and America’s interests still aligned?| The Economist
Alexander Stubb, Donald Trump, David Rennie
Recent US policy shifts driven by MAGA ideology and an "America First" pecking order have inflicted irreparable damage on transatlantic morale, despite maintaining strategic alignment on Arctic defense and containing Russian influence in Europe. While Finland has bolstered its self-reliant military with conscription and advanced weaponry, the alliance remains fragile due to lingering US control over critical assets like long-range missiles and Starlink capabilities. Bilateral cooperation continues through massive joint exercises in Northern Norway and Finnish acquisition plans, yet the relationship risks escalation if diplomatic off-ramps at venues like Davos fail to prevent trade wars or military threats over issues such as Greenland.
- 80,000 Hours2h 58m
By 2050 we could get "10,000 years of technological progress"
Ajaya Kocha outlines a "crunch time" strategy where society redirects rapidly accelerating AI capabilities toward defensive alignment and infrastructure projects during a critical window before potential loss of control. She advocates for mandatory transparency measures, such as regular benchmark reporting and misalignment disclosures, to ensure verifiable data drives policy rather than industry secrecy. To operationalize this approach, Open Philanthropy is considering rapid financial mobilization, including computing infrastructure investment and streamlined grantmaking, to secure resources for high-stakes safety research when an intelligence explosion is detected.
- Y Combinator50 min
Inside Claude Code With Its Creator Boris Cherny
Boris Cherny, Mark Mandelmann, Jr., Francesc Campoy, Melanie Warrick
Anthropic has accelerated its engineering velocity to a 150% growth rate by leveraging *Claude Code* to generate 70% to 90% of its own source code and rewriting its entire codebase every six months to avoid technical debt. The organization operates a bimodal workforce of specialists and generalists while predicting that traditional software engineering roles will fade as AI automates coding tasks. With *Claude Code* now powering the majority of developer sessions and influencing 4% of public industry commits, the company is simultaneously expanding into non-technical domains through *Co-work* and monitoring its safety rating at ASL 3.
- Goldman Sachs16 min
The New AI Trades
In early 2026, software stocks suffered a 25% valuation collapse as forward earnings multiples compressed, while investors grappled with AI-driven disruption risks across sectors like legal and media. Simultaneously, five U.S. hyperscalers are projected to spend $660 billion on capital expenditures this year, a surge consuming 90% of their operating cash flows that has forced reduced buybacks and increased debt reliance. Amidst these headwinds, Goldman Sachs forecasts an S&P 500 recovery driven primarily by 12% fourth-quarter earnings growth and a market rotation toward cyclical sectors rather than AI-centric leaders.
99.9% of the internet is about to be AI?
World and Merge Labs have secured a direct $250 million partnership from OpenAI to simultaneously combat AI dominance by building a 37-million-user "Proof of Human" network and developing a high-bandwidth brain-computer interface through a new research division. Led by Alex Blania and featuring founding members from Caltech and Forrest Neurotech, the initiative aims to integrate biometric verification into major platforms within months while advancing minimally invasive neural technology with a 15-year consumer roadmap. These dual ventures utilize zero-knowledge cryptography and ultrasound-based sensors to create an anonymous, privacy-preserving ecosystem that generates revenue through network integration fees rather than data sales.
Klarna CEO: SaaS is Dead: Why Systems of Record Will Die in an Agentic World
Sebastian Siemiatkowski, Harry Stebbings
Klarna has executed a radical workforce reduction from 7,000 to under 3,000 employees by leveraging AI to accelerate product delivery and eliminate the need for new capital or recruitment, while simultaneously doubling compensation per remaining staff. The company is pivoting from a Buy Now, Pay Later provider to a full-stack digital financial assistant and banking platform, aiming to convert its existing user base into active banking customers while internalizing its tech stack as an AI-native operating system. This transformation anticipates a further headcount drop to fewer than 2,000 by 2030 through natural attrition, challenging traditional financial incumbents by reducing switching costs and shifting value from software generation to data integrity.
- The Diary Of A CEO2h 19m
Brain Rot Emergency: These Internal Documents Prove They’re Controlling You!
Jonathan Haidt, Dr Aditi Nerurkar
The event analyzes how high-volume short-form video content and AI-driven platforms neurologically rewire the brain to prioritize stress responses over executive function, creating severe risks for children's development and adult mental health. It exposes corporate strategies that prioritize engagement metrics over user safety, highlighting internal research acknowledging addiction mechanisms while noting the lack of regulatory accountability. The presentation concludes with concrete legislative trends, such as upcoming global age restrictions, and individual interventions like digital detoxes and device-free zones to mitigate cognitive decline and restore meaningful human connection.
- Milken Institute51 min
Movies, Games, Anime: Redefining the Fanverse in the Gen Z Era | Asia Summit 2025
Chong Seow Wei, Maureen Fan, Kun Gao, Patrick Lee, Kevin Lin
Industry leaders Maureen Fan, Kun Kun Gao, Patrick Lee, and Kevin Lin convened to redefine Gen Z fandom as a shift from passive consumption to active co-creation and transmedia immersion. The panelists analyzed how authentic creator-driven pipelines, particularly in Asian entertainment, and platforms like Roblox are reshaping audience power, while noting that AI democratization will necessitate stronger human curation to manage the resulting content explosion. Their discussion concluded that future business success relies on building direct creator-to-audience infrastructure that prioritizes collaborative storytelling and physical live experiences over traditional gatekeeping and isolated adaptation silos.
The Ruthless Sales Culture Behind ElevenLabs Growth | Carles Reina
11 Labs enforces an aggressive sales culture by setting quotas at 20 times base salary, a structure that has driven an 80% success rate over two and a half years while distinguishing itself through a dual-compensation model that aligns Account Executives and Customer Success Managers on retention. Leadership maintains this high-performance environment through mandatory remote pipeline reviews, ruthless public accountability for missed targets, and a strategic pivot from inbound reliance to a 40% outbound sales mix. The organization manages turnover by terminating underperformers with severance while retaining long-cycle sellers, ultimately fostering a remote-first team that prioritizes autonomous, road-warrior execution.
- Y Combinator8 min
The New Way To Build A Startup
Companies such as GigaML, Legion Health, and PhaseShift are redefining operational scale by automating all internal workflows—from code integration to clinical operations—rather than merely augmenting isolated functions. This "20X company" model enables lean teams of just a few employees to service Fortune 500 clients and achieve fourfold revenue growth while maintaining flat headcounts that would traditionally require hundreds of staff. By treating internal processes as the primary product, these organizations achieve AGI-level productivity, allowing them to compete directly with massive incumbents without the corresponding payroll burdens.