375: MIT’s Max Tegmark, author of “Life 3.0″ and co-founder of the Future of Life Institute, asserts that the most important conversation in the world is the one about humanity’s future with artificial intelligence. Technology is a neutral force, and it is our responsibility to manage it wisely and steer it towards a beneficial future. As our technology becomes more powerful, so too do the positive and negative consequences. Max notes that we need to decide what type of future we want to have with AI so that its impact on society is beneficial, rather than harmful. We also discuss how governments, academia, and companies can help create a better future with AI, the comparisons between prior science advancements and today’s intelligence advancements, how Max became interested in AI, among other topics.
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371: General Stanley McChrystal explores a variety of different genres of leaders, including geniuses, founders, politicians, reformers, heroes, and zealots. While he asserts that a group’s performance is less about the leader’s ability and more about the surrounding factors, General McChrystal claims that the best leaders are those who are empathetic to the group’s position at a given time and are able to constantly adapt. Throughout our conversation, we also discuss General McChrystal’s evolving opinions on Robert E. Lee, his experience with his nemesis in Al Qaeda Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, and why he dedicated his book to John McCain and John Lewis.
General McChrystal is a retired four-star general of the US Army and the author of multiple books, including his most recent one, Leaders: Myth and Reality. Following a 34-year career in the United States Army, General McChrystal founded the McChrystal Group, an advisory services firm that specializes in leadership consulting.
370: John Chambers, the former CEO of Cisco, reflects on his 25 years at Cisco, from his greatest professional regret, to the key factors behind Cisco’s massively successful acquisition strategy, to the critical importance of culture. We also discussed his work with the leaders of France and India to digitize their countries, what he looks for when evaluating companies to invest in, insights from his new book, Connecting The Dots: Lessons For Leadership In A Startup World, among other topics.
Kai-Fu is a prominent venture capitalist, technology executive, artificial intelligence expert, and author of the new book, “AI Superpowers. China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order.” Currently, Kai-Fu is the founding CEO of Sinovation Ventures, a Chinese venture capital firm with $2 billion under management, a third of which is in AI. He founded Sinovation Ventures after leading Google’s initial entry into China as the President of Google China. Prior to Google, he spent a number of years at Microsoft as a Corporate Vice President. While at Microsoft he established Microsoft Research Asia, which is widely considered one of the best computer science research labs in the world.
Kai-Fu began his career as an AI researcher, having obtained a Bachelors of Science in Computer Science from Columbia University, and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon.
In this interview, Kai-Fu discusses his new book, “AI Superpowers,” in which he highlights the stunning, government-supported progress China’s technology sector has made in recent years. He goes on to argue that China is well positioned to surpass the US in AI prowess, and the reasons for that country’s gains. We also discuss the risk of job displacement, why US companies struggle to break into the Chinese market, and why the reverse is also true, what Sinovation Ventures looks for when identifying new opportunities, and a variety of other topics.
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Among other topics, Scott discusses the following issues with Metis Strategy:
Scott Gallloway is a Professor of Marketing at NYU Stern School of Business. He is the author of, “The Four: The Hidden DNA of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google.” Scott is also the founder of nine firms including L2, Red Envelope, and Prophet.
Scott has served on the board of directors of Eddie Bauer, The New York Times Company, Gateway Computer, and Berkeley’s Haas School of Business.
He was elected to the World Economic Forum’s “Global Leaders of Tomorrow” and was named “One of the World’s 50 Best Business School Professors” by Poets & Quants, in 2012.
Scott received a B.A. from the University of California –Los Angeles and an MBA from the University of California – Berkeley.
Among other topics, General McChrystal discusses the following issues with Metis Strategy:
General Stanley McChrystal is a retired four-star general. He is the former commander of U.S. and International Security Assistance Forces (ISAF) Afghanistan and the former commander of the premier military counter-terrorism force, Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC). He was responsible for developing and implementing the current counter-insurgency strategy in Afghanistan, and for creating a comprehensive counter-terrorism organization that revolutionized the interagency operating culture.
General McChrystal co-founded the McChrystal Group in 2011. The McChrystal Group’s mission is to deliver innovative leadership solutions to American businesses to help them transform and succeed in challenging and dynamic environments.
General McChrystal is a senior fellow at Yale University’s Jackson Institute for Global Affairs where he teaches a course on Leadership in Operation. He sits on the boards of Navistar International Corporation and JetBlue Airways. He is also the chair of Service Year Alliance, which advocates for a year of service for every young American.
General McChrystal earned a Bachelor of Science from West Point and is a graduate of the U.S. Naval War College. He has completed fellowships at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and at the Council on Foreign Relations.
