Will AI Usher In the End of Deep Thinking?

Plain English with Derek Thompson

The Ringer

News, News Commentary

4.7 • 2.1K Ratings

🗓️ 6 August 2025

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Last week, the Bureau of Economic Analysis published the latest GDP report. It contained a startling detail. Spending on artificial intelligence added more to the U.S. economy than consumer spending last quarter. This is very quickly becoming an AI economy. I’m interested in how AI will change our jobs. But I’m just as curious about how it will change our minds. We’re already seeing that students in high school and college are using AI to write most of their essays. What do we lose in a world where students sacrifice the ability to do deep writing? Today’s guest is Cal Newport, the author of several bestsellers on the way we work, including 'Deep Work.' He is also a professor of computer science at Georgetown. One of the questions I get the most by email, in talks, in conversations with people about the news is: If these tools can read faster than us, synthesize better than us, remember better than us, and write faster than us, what’s our place in the loop? What skills should we value in the age of AI? Or, more pointedly: What should we teach our children in the age of AI? How do we ride this train without getting run over by it? If you have questions, observations, or ideas for future episodes, email us at PlainEnglish@Spotify.com. Host: Derek Thompson Guest: Calvin Newport Producer: Devon Baroldi Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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0:00.0	Hey, it's Craig Horlebeck here to tell you that the NFL is back, whether you like it or not,
0:04.8	and we are covering all the latest news, trades, rankings, and more on the Ringer Fantasy Football
0:09.6	Show with my two co-hosts who are both named Danny. Check the Ringer Fantasy Football Show out
0:14.3	on Spotify or on our new YouTube channel. Today, AI and us.
0:23.1	Last week, the Bureau of Economic Analysis published its latest GDP report, and it contained
0:28.8	a startling detail.
0:30.4	Spending on artificial intelligence added more to the U.S. economy last quarter than
0:35.3	consumer spending.
0:37.2	That means the only reason this economy is
0:39.3	growing right now is because of the boom in artificial intelligence spending on advanced
0:44.5	ships, data centers, and energy. I think this is one of those stats that's worth sitting inside
0:51.1	for a few seconds. We talk a lot about what will happen if at some
0:54.9	distant date AI eats the economy of the future, dominates the economy of the
1:00.0	future. But we don't need to wait for the future. AI is driving this economy right
1:06.5	now, today. This is already becoming an AI economy. If, for example, you want to know why
1:12.9	is GDP growing rather than stalling, the answer is AI. If you want to know why the stock
1:19.3	market is soaring rather than stalling, here again, the answer is AI. According to Michael
1:25.5	Sembalist at J.P. Morgan, nearly two-thirds of stock market returns
1:30.0	in the last two years have come from a small number of AI-related stocks, like Microsoft and
1:36.9	Amazon and Meta. I'm working on several shows right now on what an AI economy will do to work and productivity and our jobs.
1:47.0	The effect of AI on the economy is a really interesting and important question to me.
1:52.0	But I'm not just interested in how AI is changing the economy.
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