Big Fan of Human Race

The first ever episode of Max Talks AI was a book review of Humans 3.0 written by Peter Nowak. It has been a great pleasure to have him on my podcast. Peter and I talked about burgers, the future of voice technology, privacy, and the skill of staying positive and optimistic. Peter Nowak has been writing about technology since 1997. He is a former staff reporter and editor at The Globe and Mail, National Post and Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in Toronto, and the New Zealand Herald in Auckland. In 2006, he was named Journalist of the Year by the Telecommunications Users Association of New Zealand and in 2009, he won the Canadian Advanced Technology Alliance award for Excellence in Science and Technology Reporting. Peter’s first book, Sex, Bombs and Burgers: How War, Porn and Fast Food Created Modern Technology As We Know It, spent several weeks on the Maclean’s best-seller list in Canada. His second book, Humans 3.0: The Upgrading of the Species, has been published in five countries.

In this episode, I have a great pleasure of being joined by Calum Chace. Calum studied Philosophy at Oxford, where he initially developed his interest in AI. After a 30 year career in business, he started sharing his thoughts on AI with the world.

Now, he is a distinguished author and sought-after speaker about artificial intelligence, and its likely future impact on society. His books include a novel Pandora’s Brain, and 3 non-fiction books: Surviving AI, The Economic Singularity, and Artificial Intelligence and The Two Singularities.

Calum argues that superintelligence is closer than we think, and that humanity is on track to become second smartest species on the planet. Even a more pressing concern in his mind, is AI’s impact on employment and what can be done to ensure a smoother transition to a potentially jobless society.

In this episode, Yessi and I talk about her switch from lifestyle to tech journalism, AI start ups in London, self-driving cars, blockchain, and how graduates can break into her profession.

Yessi is an editor of UK Tech News (uktech.news), the leading publication inspiring and connecting UK tech businesses with breaking news, data-led industry analysis, profiles and events. Her interests and expertise lie in technology journalism, B2B sector, venture capital and blockchain.

Yessi and I met at an event called “AI in Business: Joining the Dots”, which was organised by Prospex and held at Orrick LLP office in London. Yessi was moderating the panel and impressed me with her knowledge of the AI ‘scene’ in London and strikingly clear articulation of her thoughts and ideas on what the future might hold. After the event we kept in touch and it is now my great pleasure to have her on the podcast.

Please enjoy!

In this episode, Paul and I talk about the fear of death, possibility of technology prolonging our lives, depression, social media usage, and universal basic income. I find Paul's insights fascinating in terms of their depth and context, and I am sure you will do too!

I have a pleasure of knowing Paul on a personal level. We connected at a conference in London called Expert Empires. I joined Paul at his table and asked what he was so actively typing out on his MacBook. Turned out, it was that book that we are talking about in this episode - 'Surfing the Techno-Tsunami'.

After the conference, Paul and I kept in touch. Apart from writing and running businesses, Paul has had a very accomplished career in personal coaching, working with top athletes, notably with the stars of British Premier League. Also, Paul has worked with Olympians, business executives, and spoke to thousands of people about becoming self-employed.

Please enjoy this episode!

In this episode, I visit Luke Dormehl in Bristol!. We talk about Artificial Intelligence as a term, machine learning algorithms, AI in popular culture, and the outspoken celebrities in AI such as Elon Musk and Bill Gates.

Luke Dormehl is a freelance journalist, author and public speaker, based in the UK. He writes primarily on the subject of technology, particularly emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence, VR and 3D printing. Luke has written for Digital Trends, Fast Company, The Guardian, The Sunday Times, Wired, Politico, Huffington Post, Empire.

Two of Luke's most recent books are 'Thinking Machine' and 'The Formula'. They have been reviewed in places like the New York Times, Kirkus Review of Books, Forbes, and the Los Angeles Review of Books, as well as cited in Yuval Noah Harari's excellent Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow. Thinking machines was also praised by Ray Kurzweil in NYT.

Please enjoy the episode!

Artificial Intelligence will make us better, not kill us. My take on the topics raised in a brilliant book 'Humans 3.0: The Upgrading of the Species' by Peter Nowak.

Our species is entering a new era. Millions of years ago, we created tools to change our environment: caves became huts, fires became ovens, and clubs became swords. Now, we're applying the latest advancements to our own biology, and technology is becoming part of the process. But is that a good thing?

Veteran jounalist and bestselling author Peter Nowak looks at what it means to be human - from the relationships we form and beliefs we hold to the jobs we do and the objects we create - and measures the impact that those innovations have had and will have in the future.

Please enjoy!

Mark Purdy is a managing director and chief economist at Accenture Research. His research examines issues at the intersection of macroeconomics and business, such as globalization, international competitiveness, economic growth and jobs. Before joining Accenture, he was an economic advisor at the U.K. Competition Commission, the Consumers’ Association and Ireland’s National Economic and Social Council. He has a Bachelor’s and a master’s degree in economics from Trinity College, Dublin. I came across Mark’s work when looking at the list of the speakers at the Warwick Economics Summit 2017.

I enjoyed his keynote at the event and invited him to be on my podcast. We talk about what countries can do to reap the benefits of AI, its impact on productivity and what skills will be in demand in the future. Enjoy!

Technology is touching every single sector you can possibly think of and challenging every established school of thought. That said, as human beings, we are extremely good at giving ourselves excuses not to dive into the unexplored fields.


Here are the 3 excuses not to care about AI that I have encountered and certainly am guilty of myself.

1) ‘Ahhh, I am way too old for this. I probably should leave all this AI stuff for the youngsters’

2) 'This is all moving too fast, I can’t keep up - I will just, let the really smart people figure it out…'

3) 'I am not really a 'techy' type, I love humans so I will stick to them'

Enjoy!