A human conversation with the producers of ‘The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist’
The Business
KCRW
4.5 • 699 Ratings
🗓️ 20 March 2026
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This week, Kim talks to Diane Becker and Ted Tremper about The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist. The producers discuss how they managed to land big names in machine learning, including the CEOs of OpenAI and Anthropic. Becker and Tremper also explain how they nearly got Elon Musk—until, surprisingly, he ghosted. They also share how they kept their brains from melting while tackling a subject as overwhelming as AI.
Plus, Masters and Matt Belloni break down the first week of Disney’s new CEO, Josh D’Amaro, who outlined his goals for the company in a memo to employees, emphasizing creative storytelling and the embrace of new technology. Meanwhile, the banter partners examine Wall Street’s negative reaction to the Paramount–Warner Bros. merger and why California Attorney General Rob Bonta has vowed to scrutinize David Ellison’s acquisition of the legacy studio.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | From KCRW, I'm Kim Masters, and this is the business. |
| 0:06.5 | Producers Diane Becker and Ted Trimper have some great credits, but that didn't help much |
| 0:11.2 | when they set out to book subjects for their new film, The AI Doc, or How I Became an Apocalypse |
| 0:16.6 | Optimist. Try saying that three times quickly. We did some initial outreach. This was right after everything everywhere and Navalny won all of |
| 0:23.7 | the Oscars. And we basically sent 90 emails to different machine learning people, including |
| 0:28.1 | the very top people. And we got six replies. And that's when we realized that AI world doesn't |
| 0:32.7 | really read the trades a lot. Ultimately, they managed to pull in many voices, including the CEOs of OpenAI and Anthropic. |
| 0:40.8 | Becker and Trimper talk about how they did it and how they thought they also were getting Elon Musk until, |
| 0:46.5 | surprisingly, he ghosted. |
| 0:48.6 | The producers also explain how they kept their brains from melting while tackling a subject as |
| 0:53.4 | overwhelming as AI. |
| 0:55.0 | But first we banter, stick around. It's the business from KCRW. |
| 1:00.0 | I am joined by my partner in banter. Matt. Bellany. Hello, Matt. |
| 1:06.0 | Hi there. |
| 1:07.0 | So, St. Patrick's Day was this past week, as was the last day of Bob Eiger as CEO of the Walt Disney Company. |
| 1:16.8 | And after all the build up and the retirements that were pushed off and then the retirement that semi happened but didn't fully happen. |
| 1:23.8 | And then the return, it felt like a muted thing. |
| 1:29.0 | But I wrote a whole column in Puck about his tenure and how he'll be evaluated and the things that were big wins and things not so |
| 1:34.1 | much. At the end of the day, I feel like he did bring the company back to stability after the |
| 1:39.6 | Bob Chapic debacle. And it does feel, at least now, it's early times, but that Josh DeMorrow is more the |
| 1:46.8 | right guy to succeed Bob Iger and is taking the reins. And we're moving forward. Yeah, I mean, |
| 1:52.8 | everything was choreographed pretty well. They all posted their social media appreciations. They |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from KCRW, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of KCRW and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.