Raffi Krikorian Says "We Don't Have Much Time Left" to Rein in AI

Harry's guest this week is Raffi Krikorian, chief technology officer and managing director at Emerson Collective, the social change organization founded by Laurene Powell Jobs. Krikorian is the former vice president of engineering at Twitter (now X), where he was responsible for getting rid of the Fail Whale and making the company’s backend infrastructure more reliable; the former director of Uber's Advanced Technology Center in Pittsburgh, where he oversaw the launch of the world's first fleet of self-driving cars; and then the chief technology officer at the Democratic National Committee, where he helped rebuild the party's technology infrastructure after the Russian hacking debacle of 2016. At Emerson Collective, Krikorian built the technology organization, leads the development of data products, and works to upgrade the back offices of the non-profits Emerson works with. On top of all that, he recently launched a podcast called Technically Optimistic, where he’s taking a deep dive into the way AI is challenging us all to think differently about the future of work, education, policy, regulation, creativity, copyright, and many other areas. The show is a must-listen for anyone who cares about how we can build on AI to transform society for the better while minimizing the collateral damage. Harry talked with Krikorian about why he moved to Emerson Collective, why and how he started the podcast, and what he really thinks about what government should be doing to prepare for the waves of social change AI will bring. For a full transcript of this episode, please visit our episode page at http://www.glorikian.com/podcast  Please rate and review The Harry Glorikian Show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify!  Here's how to do that on Apple Podcasts: 1. Open the Podcasts app on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac.  2. Navigate to The Harry Glorikian Show podcast. You can find it by searching for it or selecting it from your library. Just note that you'll have to go to the series page which shows all the episodes, not just the page for a single episode. 3. Scroll down to find the subhead titled "Ratings & Reviews." 4. Under one of the highlighted reviews, select "Write a Review." 5. Next, select a star rating at the top — you have the option of choosing between one and five stars.  6. Using the text box at the top, write a title for your review. Then, in the lower text box, write your review. Your review can be up to 300 words long. 7. Once you've finished, select "Send" or "Save" in the top-right corner.  8. If you've never left a podcast review before, enter a nickname. Your nickname will be displayed next to any reviews you leave from here on out.  9. After selecting a nickname, tap OK. Your review may not be immediately visible. On Spotify, the process is similar. Open the Spotify app, navigate to The Harry Glorikian Show, tap the three dots, then tap "Rate Show." Thanks!