New books from Reid Hoffman and Bill Gates look at tech revolutions past and future

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Arts, Books

4.2 • 672 Ratings

🗓️ 21 February 2025

⏱️ 18 minutes

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Summary

Reid Hoffman has invested in AI for years. The LinkedIn co-founder said he used AI to vet his new book, Superagency, written with Greg Beato, which makes an optimistic case for an AI-powered future. In today's episode, Hoffman joins NPR's Steve Inskeep for a conversation about the book that touches on his decision to back Kamala Harris for president in 2024 and on his falling out with Elon Musk. Then, Bill Gates joins NPR's Scott Detrow for a conversation about his new memoir Source Code. Much of Gates' writing has focused on the future – but here he reflects on his early life, from his childhood to the birth of Microsoft. He speaks with Detrow about the death of Gates' high school best friend and the opportunity he saw in personal computing.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, it's NPR's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbaung. The tech world is in an interesting
0:06.9	spot right now. The movers and shakers are all jockeying to be in the best position to take
0:12.2	advantage of artificial intelligence. Also, they are all in some ways thinking about their
0:17.7	relationship to President Trump. In a bit, we'll hear from Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, who has just written his
0:23.3	own memoir, talking about his come-up in the field.
0:26.1	But first, Reid Hoffman is the co-founder of LinkedIn, you know, that social media website
0:30.8	where people look for jobs or network within their field.
0:34.2	He wrote a book called Super Agency about how AI will help us make sense of the
0:39.3	huge amorphous blob we call the internet. The conversation he had with NPR Steve Inskeep was
0:45.0	actually recorded before all the news about the Chinese AI company Deepseek broke, but they still
0:50.4	had a worthwhile conversation about the possibilities and dangers of artificial intelligence.
0:56.3	That's coming up.
0:57.7	In the U.S., national security news can feel far away from daily life.
1:02.5	Distant wars, murky conflicts, diplomacy behind closed doors on our new show, sources and methods.
1:09.1	NPR reporters on the ground bring you stories of real people, helping you understand why distant events matter here at home.
1:16.3	Listen to sources and methods on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.
1:22.0	Reid Hoffman has been thinking about how artificial intelligence can help him think.
1:27.5	The co-founder of LinkedIn, the social network for business, has invested in AI for years.
1:32.9	I asked him if investors have created an AI bubble over investment.
1:37.9	And he said no.
1:38.6	If anything, we're as yet still underinvested and under rotated towards this kind of new artificial intelligence
1:47.1	transformation. Underinvested? Do you mean we need a few more trillion dollars thrown in this
	...

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