Alex Heath
@alexeheath • 513,015 subscribers
Host @ Sources podcast Partner @ Sound Ventures
Videos
I asked Google CEO Pichai what happened to the missing Gemini 3.5 Pro model that never shipped. He gave me an interesting window into the hard decisions big labs have to make in model development: "While training the 3.5 series, we had Flash and Pro, which we were working on. An area we internalized through the middle of this year was that there were gaps in agentic capabilities, particularly around coding... We wanted to definitely hill climb there, and the team felt the fastest way to do so was using Flash. It's a smaller model and more efficient, so you can really get a lot more iterative loops there. That's what led to 3.5, 3.6, 3.7, and 3.8 Flash. By the time we got that done, we had a chance to apply it to Pro, but Argon pre-training was done."
Alex Heath163,243 次观看 • 2 天前
Sundar Pichai on Gemini 4 and the AI compute crunch Even Google can’t get enough compute. I sit down with Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai shortly after the wider release of Gemini 4 Argon to discuss its early reception, where he still wants the model to improve, and what it takes to keep Google at the frontier of AI. Pichai explains the recent leadership shakeup at Google DeepMind and why building frontier models has become an “all-consuming” job. We also get into Google’s answer to the personal agent race, how he predicts Gemini will do more work on your behalf, and whether agents will finally bring Search, Gmail, and Gemini together. I ask him about Google turning free cash flow negative, the risks in the AI infrastructure buildout, and how he plans for demand years before knowing what the models will be capable of. He explains the signals giving him confidence to keep spending and how he uses AI agents to follow model development and compute usage inside Google. Timestamps: 00:00 Gemini Argon launch reception 01:49 Model access and safety 06:20 The AI model race 08:35 Agentic breakthroughs and 2027 11:34 Recursive self-improvement 15:41 DeepMind leadership changes 19:52 Google's AI compute investments 25:20 Is AI spending sustainable? 33:18 How Sundar uses AI agents 35:35 Gemini's personal agent plans 38:37 How AI agents change the web 43:52 Google's space data centers 47:38 Waymo's expansion strategy 50:26 Wing's drone delivery plans 51:36 AI safety and regulation 55:58 Google's quantum computing bet YouTube: Spotify: Substack: Apple Podcasts: This episode's presenting sponsor is Hyperagent. Thanks to the show’s premiere sponsors: Atlassian, Granola, and Mercury.
Alex Heath230,212 次观看 • 3 天前
Qualcomm’s CEO on the coming AI phone supercycle Cristiano R. Amon on the China vs. US AI sentiment, how AI is changing smartphones and wearables, Qualcomm’s data center strategy, and 6G. We discuss why he thinks phones aren’t going away, how agents will use our personal context, and why he expects smart glasses to become the biggest category of AI wearables. We also cover differences in consumer AI adoption between China and the US, Qualcomm’s acquisition of Modular to offer developers an alternative to Nvidia’s software, and what 6G could change about the devices we use. This conversation was recorded live at Qualcomm’s recent Snapdragon Summit in Hawaii. Timestamps: 00:18 How China and the US see AI 04:33 Should AI development slow down? 07:25 Trump, China, and chip geopolitics 08:25 Why the smartphone market is shrinking 11:15 Memory prices and pent-up demand 13:15 Can cloud agents replace the phone? 18:30 What is an AI smartphone? 25:05 The state of VR and smart glasses 29:30 Is there an iPod moment for wearables? 30:45 Why Qualcomm is building data centers 34:45 Modular and the fight against CUDA lock-in 39:05 What 5G actually changed 42:00 Why 6G is built for AI 45:05 When 6G arrives Spotify: YouTube: Substack: Apple Podcasts: Thanks to the show’s premiere sponsors: Atlassian, Granola, and Mercury.
Alex Heath202,549 次观看 • 16 天前
Sam Altman on OpenAI’s next model and the AI backlash I recently sat down with Sam for a two-part conversation. We covered a lot of ground: the need to slow down frontier research, alignment concerns, OpenAI's next big model, Astra, competition with Anthropic, his thoughts on an IPO, reaching AGI, consumer hardware, and a lot more. Timestamps: 00:00 Why OpenAI Slowed Training 08:37 What Alignment Means 15:22 Keeping Humans in Control 24:39 AGI vs. Superintelligence 30:04 OpenAI’s Next Compute Bet 31:47 AI Backlash, Jobs, and Creators 41:31 OpenAI’s Missteps and Refocus 45:47 Astra and Computer-Using Agents 47:42 Regulation and the AI Race 51:24 Merging ChatGPT and Codex 54:22 The AI Compute Bubble 57:07 Recursive Self-Improvement and IPO 58:22 Humanoid Robots and Consumer Devices 1:05:47 Life After Superintelligence This episode was produced in partnership with TIME. Thanks to the show's premier sponsors: Atlassian, Granola, and Mercury.
Alex Heath547,690 次观看 • 1 个月前
Marc Benioff on the AI boom, SaaSpocalypse, and future of Slack Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff and I discuss his recent framemogging at Dreamforce, the state of the SaaSpocalypse, and how Slack is more important than ever in the age of AI. We also talk about the resurgence of San Francisco, his role in the recent acquisition of Hugging Face, the wealth being created by the IPOs of Anthropic and OpenAI, and what he thinks the industry can learn from the social media era. Timestamps: 00:00 Dreamforce Memes and the AI Hype Cycle 04:36 San Francisco’s AI Comeback 07:24 Why AI Leaders Should Give Back 11:50 AI Safety, Regulation and CEO Responsibility 15:57 Betting on AI Agents and Anthropic 21:10 Is the SaaS Apocalypse Overblown? 28:56 Slack as the Operating System for AI Agents 33:39 How Do You Price AI? 36:56 Headless Salesforce and Unlocking Business Data 40:51 How AI Is Changing TIME and the Media 44:15 The Future of AI Interfaces Thanks to the show's premier sponsors: Granola, Atlassian, and Mercury.
Alex Heath252,761 次观看 • 1 个月前
Mark Zuckerberg (Mark Zuckerberg) on Muse, Meta's personal AI agent I recently sat down with Zuckerberg for episode two of the Sources podcast. We go deep on Muse, Meta's new (and, in my experience over the last few days, very capable) agent that comes with its own virtual machine and can do much more than a chatbot. Zuck, in fact, is confident that Muse will pay for itself by making people money. We also discuss his views on the data center backlash, his concerns about the concentration of power in AI, Meta's recent youth-safety settlement, privacy concerns about Meta's smart glasses, and more. Timestamps: 00:00 Zuckerberg’s Vision for AI 08:34 Data Centers, Jobs and Local Communities 15:03 Why Meta Is Building Personal Superintelligence 19:14 How Zuckerberg Uses Muse 25:00 Muse Pricing and Business Model 30:31 Privacy and Security for Personal Agents 41:06 Who Will Win the Personal AI Agent Market? 44:31 Rebuilding Meta’s AI Lab 54:09 AI Safety and Working With Government 01:01:51 Smart Glasses and Privacy 01:05:50 Teen Safety and Social Media Limits Thanks to the show's premier sponsors: Granola, Mercury, and Atlassian
Alex Heath341,350 次观看 • 1 个月前
Satya Nadella on Copilot, the AI backlash, and Microsoft’s future Satya Nadella thinks AI agents will create a market “orders of magnitude” bigger than the cloud. I recently sat down with him in Seattle for the unveiling of the new Copilot. We discuss Autopilot, Microsoft's new OpenClaw-based agent that can work on your behalf, and why he thinks newer AI models are finally capable of delivering on more of Copilot’s promise. Nadella also has a blunt assessment of the AI industry: “We are way too self-obsessed.” I ask him why the industry has struggled to explain its benefits and what it will take to earn people’s trust. We get into his concerns about agents acting deceptively, when a safety problem should stop a release, and why he doesn’t want AI oversight to become a “cartel-like arrangement.” We also discuss Microsoft’s relationship with OpenAI, the models Microsoft is building itself, and why Nadella wants investors to think about its apps, agents, and infrastructure as one connected business. He explains how he uses AI to track Microsoft’s capital spending, shares his vision for “unmetered intelligence” on Windows, and gives an update on Xbox’s path back to growth. Timestamps: 00:00 The race for AI agents 07:53 Copilot’s next chapter 11:50 Autopilot and the digital teammate 16:50 How Microsoft prices AI 19:48 Why Microsoft is betting on multiple models 23:18 Measuring AGI through economic growth 28:39 The economics of Microsoft’s AI build-out 32:13 OpenAI and Microsoft’s own models 35:27 AI safety, control, and regulation 43:53 Why the AI industry is losing public trust 46:59 The future of Xbox and Windows 50:34 Microsoft’s biggest risk and opportunity Thanks to the show's premier sponsors: Mercury, Granola, and Atlassian.
Alex Heath196,169 次观看 • 29 天前
Factory CEO on why AGI is already here Matan Grinberg is the co-founder and CEO of Factory, a $5 billion AI coding startup building Droid agents to automate the engineering process. He tells me how AI is changing the job of a software engineer and why Factory is betting on a future with many competing models. We get into how it balances model performance with token costs and why he thinks companies should avoid depending on one AI provider. We also discuss why he thinks AGI is already here, how Factory hires its own engineers, his view of the open-versus-closed AI debate, competition with companies like Cognition, and when companies should outsource to AI rather than build in-house. Timestamps: 00:00 The AI coding shift 06:10 What makes Factory different 11:32 Funding Factory’s growth 16:17 When AI writes the code 20:25 Hiring in the AI era 28:30 Betting on multiple models 32:49 Is AGI already here? 34:30 AI safety and regulation 39:36 Building a trusted AI business 41:32 The risks of model dependence 44:50 Competition and engineering’s future Links: YouTube: Spotify: Substack: Thanks to the show’s premiere sponsors: Atlassian, Granola, and Mercury.
Alex Heath62,099 次观看 • 25 天前
Reflection’s founders on building a DeepSeek of the West Reflection is soon releasing Beam, its first open-weight AI model, in a bid to become the DeepSeek of the West. Trained from scratch, Beam is designed for coding, reasoning, and AI agents. Reflection's benchmarks put it alongside the strongest open models, with substantially more efficient token economics. To mark Beam’s debut, I'm joined by Reflection's co-founders: CEO Misha Laskin, who led reward modeling for Google’s Gemini, and CTO Ioannis Antonoglou, who helped create AlphaGo and AlphaZero before leading Gemini’s RLHF effort. Reflection has raised $4.6 billion from investors that include Nvidia, Sequoia, and Lightspeed. We discuss why Chinese labs pulled ahead in open AI models, how Reflection built Beam, and why the founders think companies and countries will increasingly want to control their own models. I ask how they plan to make money from open-weight AI, whether openness can make these systems safer, and what comes next for Reflection. Timestamps: 00:00 Why open models are surging 01:06 Renting vs. owning intelligence 03:40 Open models catch up 05:53 Why China led open AI 08:03 Introducing Beam 10:05 Scaling reinforcement learning 14:09 Training from scratch 16:04 Safety, alignment and openness 32:29 The Reflection origin story 37:32 Making money on open models 42:33 Vertical integration and compute 48:45 Partnerships and distribution 56:46 What’s next for Reflection Links: Spotify: YouTube: Substack: Thanks to the show’s premier sponsors: Atlassian, Granola, and Mercury.
Alex Heath46,727 次观看 • 19 天前
Robinhood’s CEO on letting AI trade your money Vlad Tenev on Robinhood’s new agent bet and the AI ownership inequality problem. Robinhood wants to put an AI hedge fund in your pocket. CEO Vlad Tenev tells me how Robinhood Agents brings AI trading into the app, and why he expects agents to generate a growing share of individual investors’ trading activity. We discuss how much control to give an AI that can trade your money, why Robinhood keeps agents in separate accounts, and where investors will find an edge when everyone has access to powerful models. He also explains his push for every Robinhood employee to have agents working while they sleep. Tenev argues that the AI backlash is partly an ownership problem: most people can’t invest in the companies driving it. We get into Robinhood’s push to open private markets to everyday investors, the coming AI IPOs, and his response to criticism of tokenized stocks. We also discuss prediction markets and why he objects to AI labs keeping their most powerful tools to themselves. Timestamps: 03:06 Making AI trading accessible 06:10 Trading safeguards and approvals 09:02 The future of AI trading 14:52 Finding an edge with AI 23:15 How Vlad uses agents 27:13 AI inequality and retail access 35:40 Robinhood's IPO ambitions 38:23 Markets, inflation and AI 41:28 Ownership and Trump accounts 44:42 Why tokenize stocks? 52:17 The future of prediction markets 55:40 Who should control AI? Spotify: YouTube: Substack: Apple Podcasts: Thanks to the show’s premiere sponsors: Atlassian, Granola, and Mercury.
Alex Heath23,488 次观看 • 11 天前
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella gives the wake-up call the AI industry needs: "I think we are way too self-obsessed as an industry. 'Look at us, how glorious we are.' And then we go off. That, I think, is what’s not working. Because I think the real world wants to know a couple of things: One is that this is technology that they can use for their benefit, they can control, they can have an economic future. These data centers that may be coming to their communities are actually going to create economic surplus... it has to be real for them. Any amount that I say or any one of us say is not good enough anymore, I feel."
Alex Heath46,600 次观看 • 29 天前
OpenAI’s Dots lead on the future of ChatGPT Alexander Embiricos joins the show from OpenAI DevDay to discuss the new always-on personal agent in ChatGPT. I ask him how much control people should give these agents, how OpenAI approaches permissions and privacy, and why Dots ask before taking action by default. He also explains Space, a new workspace where people and agents can collaborate on documents, data, and projects. We get into how OpenAI plans to price an always-available assistant, how these capabilities could eventually reach free ChatGPT users, and the story of an employee who woke up to discover his Dot had helped fix a bug. Timestamps: 00:00 Why agents now 00:48 From chat to active intelligence 02:46 Alex’s origin story 04:29 Building Dots 06:07 What Dots can do 08:54 Why embody an agent? 11:41 One agent or many? 15:48 Spaces and trust 24:07 Safety and enterprise controls 30:48 Building the Dots ecosystem 34:03 Pricing an always-on agent 38:01 What’s next for Dots Links: Spotify: YouTube: Substack: Thanks to the show’s premiere sponsors: Atlassian, Granola, and Mercury.
Alex Heath28,445 次观看 • 23 天前
Baseten’s CEO on why every company will want to own its AI / Tuhin Srivastava on the rise of AI agents, the demand for inference, and building a new kind of hyperscaler. Lately, I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about the AI inference market and how big it could get. Agents like Muse, Instinct, Town, and Grok Bot aggressively use browsers, run their own computers, and burn through far more tokens than a traditional chatbot. As more people put them to work (Muse is number two in the App Store), the demand for inference, or the computing needed to run these models, should grow enormously. Tuhin and I discuss the rise of agents using browsers and virtual machines to get things done, and Baseten's recent acquisition to help power that shift. We also talk about the data center backlash, why companies are embracing Chinese open models, his plans for Baseten’s new research lab, and why he thinks inference becomes the only market left after AGI. Timestamps: 00:00 What Is AI Inference? 06:05 Competing With the Cloud Giants 09:24 Why Companies Want to Own Their AI 15:30 Building Baseten Before the AI Boom 23:45 DeepSeek and the Race for Open AI Models 29:32 Baseten’s Growth and Expansion 33:05 AI Agents and the Blaxel Acquisition 38:32 Data Centers and the AI Backlash 43:25 What Happens to Inference After AGI? 45:12 When AI Agents Become Customers Thanks to the show's premier sponsors: Atlassian, Granola, and Mercury.
Alex Heath26,566 次观看 • 1 个月前
