LIMITLESS - Dwarkesh Patel: The Scaling Era of AI is Here

Bankless

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Tech News, News, Technology

4.8 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 29 July 2025

⏱️ 97 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Is intelligence just compute plus data? And if so... what happens next? In this episode, Dwarkesh Patel, host of one of the most respected AI podcasts and author of “The Scaling Era”, joins us to break down the exponential rise of artificial intelligence. We explore how scaling laws became the engine behind modern models, why AI still can’t learn on the job, and whether we’re truly on the brink of AGI. From coding to consciousness, from geopolitics to governance, Dwarkesh shares a grounded but urgent perspective on what it means to live through the transition and how we might prepare for what’s coming. ------ 💫 LIMITLESS | SUBSCRIBE & FOLLOW https://limitless.bankless.com/ https://x.com/LimitlessFT ------ BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🪙FRAX | SELF SUFFICIENT DeFi https://bankless.cc/Frax 🦄UNISWAP | SWAP ON UNICHAIN https://bankless.cc/unichain 🛞MANTLE | MODULAR LAYER 2 NETWORK https://bankless.cc/Mantle 🟠BINANCE | THE WORLDS #1 CRYPTO EXCHANGE https://bankless.cc/binance 🦎COINGECKO API | REAL-TIME CRYPTO PRICE & MARKET DATA https://bankless.cc/coingecko ------ TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Intro 6:59 What Is the Scaling Era? 9:31 Compute + Data = Intelligence? 15:08 Are We Building God? 17:57 The Catalyst: Discovering the Scaling Laws 20:54 Model Capabilities 24:35 Why Coding Is the AI Frontier 31:43 What AIs Still Can’t Do 36:26 AI Isn’t Around the Corner 46:01 Is AI Really Smart? 50:54 Inside the Black Box 54:46 AI Safety and Alignment 1:03:49 Who Controls the Models? 1:08:16 Swiss Cheese Safety & Liberal AI 1:19:30 Scaling Inputs: Energy, Compute, Data 1:26:40 Jobs, Growth & the Intelligence Curse 1:32:07 Why 60% AGI by 2040? 1:36:14 Dwarkesh’s Personal View ------ RESOURCES Dwarkesh Patel https://x.com/dwarkesh_sp Dwarkesh’s Book https://www.amazon.com/Scaling-Era-Oral-History-2019-2025/dp/1953953557 Dwarkesh’s Podcast https://www.dwarkesh.com/ ------ Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures⁠

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey guys, we have a special episode today. We have Dorkeesh Patel on the podcast. Now, Dorkeesh is probably one of my favorite podcasters. He is most in my podcast rotation list. And specifically, he's great on AI topics, which is the subject of today's episode. This is about the scaling era of AI.
0:22.8	The scaling era is something new in AI, new for humanity.
0:26.4	It's something we've never seen before.
0:28.3	And Dorcas is very much on the frontier of this movement.
0:31.6	So we get through the full history and where we've come today.
0:34.3	And I loved every minute of this conversation.
0:37.4	Now, you can usually
0:38.2	catch episodes like this on our Limitless podcast feed. That's where my co-host Josh and David and
0:44.0	EJaws, I'll go deep into the AI rabbit hole. It's like bankless, but for AI. So if Limitless is not
0:50.7	in your podcast feed rotation yet, you got to go subscribe to it, catch it on Spotify,
0:55.0	on YouTube, or wherever you access these podcasts. Now, on crypto, I did ask Dorcasch when he's going to
1:01.5	do a crypto podcast because I would very much love to hear Vitalik Buterin on Dorcash,
1:07.4	but it still might be a while out. Apparently, the only podcast Dorcasch has ever done on
1:12.2	crypto was with Sam Beckman Freed, and we all know what happened there. It's more hangover,
1:19.2	I guess, from the crypto criminals of 2022. But we've certainly come a long way since then,
1:23.8	and so has AI. Please enjoy this episode with Dorcasch Patel.
1:28.2	Imagine a world where traditional finance meets the power of blockchain seamlessly.
1:32.2	That's what Mantle is pioneering with blockchain for banking, a revolutionary new category
1:36.3	at the intersection of TradFi and Web3.
1:38.5	At the heart is U.R, the world's first money app built fully on chain.
1:41.9	It gives you a Swiss iBan account blending fiat currencies like the Euro, the Swiss franc, the United States dollar, or the
1:47.1	Rambi with crypto, all in one place. Enjoy real world usability and blockchain's trust
	...

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