In “SuperAgency,” Reid Hoffman Argues AI Will Empower, not Diminish, Us

KQED's Forum

KQED

Politics, News, News Commentary

4.6 • 656 Ratings

🗓️ 6 March 2025

⏱️ 57 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Linkedin co-founder Reid Hoffman is bullish on the ability of AI to improve our society and our selves. In his new book, “SuperAgency: What Could Possibly Go Right With Our AI Future?” Hoffman, a longtime booster and investor in AI, and co-author Greg Beato, counter fears that autonomous AI will dehumanize us and make us subject to an Orwellian compliance. Rather, they argue, AI gives humans more agency. “Just as cars gave individual users new superpowers of physical mobility in the 20th century, AI gives individual users new superpowers of cognitive mobility in the 21st century.” We talk with Hoffman and Beato about our AI future and the role of tech titans in the Trump era. Guests: Reid Hoffman, co-founder and former executive chairman, LinkedIn; co-author of "Superagency: What Could Possibly Go Right with Our AI Future" Greg Beato, co-author, "Superagency: What Could Possibly Go Right with Our AI Future" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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0:00.0	Support for Forum comes from Rancho La Puerta, a wellness resort in Baja, California, just an hour from San Diego,
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0:27.3	Support for Forum comes from Broadway S.F. presenting Parade, the musical revival based on a
0:33.2	true story. From three-time Tony-winning composer Jason Robert Brown comes the story of Leo and
0:39.7	Lucille Frank, a newlywed Jewish couple struggling to make a life in Georgia. When Leo is accused
0:46.3	of an unspeakable crime, it propels them into an unimaginable test of faith, humanity, justice,
0:53.4	and devotion.
1:02.6	The riveting and gloriously hopeful parade plays the Orphium Theater for three weeks only, May 20th through June 8th.
1:06.9	Tickets on sale now at Broadway, sF.com.
1:09.5	From KQED. From KQED. From KQED in San Francisco, I'm Alexis Madrigal.
1:24.6	It's not too hard to imagine the downsides of artificial intelligence.
1:28.3	From the movie dystopias to the more realistic AI takes your job scenarios,
1:33.0	doom and gloom abound in these days, especially with Elon Musk trying to disassemble
1:38.0	government agencies with quote-unquote AI. But LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman and
1:43.9	Big Time Democratic donor has a sunnier
1:45.9	perspective. He foresees AI providing pivotal and creative assistance to human beings, expanding
1:51.9	our capacities. His new book is Super Agency. What could possibly go right with our AI future?
1:58.4	And we'll explore that as well as what's wrong with our too real present.
2:02.0	That's all coming up next after this news.
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