Episode notes
Reid and Aria unpack the geopolitical battle over chips, from U.S. export controls to China’s push for self-sufficiency, and how the race for compute is reshaping global power. They then turn to how AI is rapidly expanding the attack surface, driving more frequent breaches and exposing new vulnerabilities deep in the software stack as speed and scale outpace traditional defenses. Finally, they explore why enterprise AI adoption has been slower and more uneven than expected, and how network effects, organizational inertia, and trust constraints are shaping the path forward. Together, these…
Possible
by Reid Hoffman · English · Tech & Science
What if, in the future, everything breaks humanity's way? Possible is an award-winning, weekly podcast that sketches out the brightest version of the future—and what it will take to get there. Hosts Reid Hoffman and Aria Finger take that question to the people building the answer: founders,…
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29 Apr 2026 · 27 min
Divine intervention in AI
Reid and Aria unpack a pivotal turning point for AI as rapid advances in generative image tools, such as ChatGPT Images 2.0, lead to deeper questions on AI usage, culture, and habits. For example, they explore how these technologies could transform creative work and visual communication, before zooming out to a global debate where voices like Pope Leo’s weigh in on AI as a fundamentally human challenge. Reid argues that while risks like isolation and misinformation are real, the future of AI depends on how actively we steer it. The episode also examines a major economic shift: the move from…
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22 Apr 2026 · 1 hr 1 min
Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings: stories, schools, superpowers
This week, Reid and Aria sit down with Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings. Reed has seen technology rewrite the rules of entertainment before, but AI takes him back to his beginnings: he studied it at Stanford in the late '80s, decades before it became the only conversation in tech. Few people have watched this moment build from as many vantage points: he's served on the boards of Microsoft, Meta, Bloomberg, and, now, Anthropic. In this episode, they talk about what AI changes in entertainment in the stories themselves, and who gets to tell them. We ask what AI can deliver for education, an…
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15 Apr 2026 · 28 min
The grid(lock) slowing AI down
With AI moving from apps into the devices we use every day, Reid and Aria explore where the real value will be created. From Google Gemini powering hundreds of millions of devices to ChatGPT entering cars, Reid argues that distribution alone won’t decide winners but that depth of use, iteration, and personalization will. They also examine the $650B race to build AI infrastructure, the hidden bottlenecks and geopolitical risks behind it, and why U.S. capital still provides a key edge. Finally, they highlight the Trust in American Institutions Challenge and its winner as a case for how AI can…
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1 Apr 2026 · 59 min
Should we give AI a bank account?
In this episode of Possible, Reid Hoffman and Aria Finger talk with Sean Neville, co-founder of Circle and architect of USDC, about building the financial infrastructure for an AI-driven economy. Now leading Catena Labs, Neville is working on what he calls the first AI-native bank—designed for autonomous agents that can transact, comply, and interact without humans in the loop. The conversation explores what breaks when AI tries to use today’s financial rails, why stablecoins may power machine-to-machine commerce, and why new concepts like “Know Your Agent” could become the foundation of…
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25 Mar 2026 · 21 min
After SaaS
Is SaaS actually dead or just evolving? Reid and Aria break down why the traditional seat-based software model is under pressure as AI reshapes how products are built, priced, and delivered. They discuss how these fundamental changes have started shifting SaaS software toward customization, token-based economics, and deeply integrated AI systems. The conversation digs into what this change means for engineers, why network effects and customer relationships still matter, and how new moats will emerge as software becomes faster, cheaper, and more dynamic than ever before. For more info on the…
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18 Mar 2026 · 24 min
Humans secretly prefer AI writing
Reid and Aria unpack three emerging fault lines in the AI era: where real power sits in the AI stack, how AI is reshaping human creativity, and whether governments could ultimately treat AI as critical national infrastructure. Reid responds to Jensen Huang's "five-layer cake" framing of AI, arguing that while compute, infrastructure, and models carry geopolitical weight, the greatest economic value tends to emerge at the application layer. The episode then turns to a broader debate over a viral NYT experiment that pitted humans against AI writing. Reid and Aria close by examining Palantir…
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7 Oct 2026 · 1 hr 24 minNew
Building safety tools no one can take away with ROOST’s Camille François
Protecting people online shouldn’t depend on whether a company keeps its safety tools effective, affordable, and available. ROOST founding president Camille François joins Reid Hoffman and Aria Finger to explain how a nonprofit is turning trust and safety into shared infrastructure. She digs into why social media was a blip in how we build tech, what Discord did after Twitter bought Smyte and shut it down, and how two people running a fandom app caught 19 cases of child exploitation in two weeks. A daycare switching its Alexa wake word to "computer" becomes a lesson in how the next…
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30 Sep 2026 · 15 min
Who gets to pull the plug on AI?
Reid Hoffman sees promise in an AI buildout and wants its financial risks in the open. He and Aria Finger unpack a Financial Times report on up to $300 billion in AI infrastructure guarantees largely absent from the balance sheets of technology companies. They explore California Governor Gavin Newsom’s push for independent lab auditors and an AI kill switch, and discuss what effective federal oversight could look like. Reid explains how these proposals differ from the 2024 bill he opposed and makes the case for an international cyber treaty. A Truth Social poll to rename AI also prompts a…
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23 Sep 2026 · 41 min
When AI's builders sound the alarm
Can America lead in AI while making life better for everyday Americans? Reid Hoffman and Aria Finger weigh in on Dario Amodei’s call to pace the frontier, and Reid makes the case for America’s dual mandate: leading in AI while delivering prosperity for the many. Anthropic researcher Evan Hubinger puts his personal estimate of AI-driven extinction risk above 10%. They unpack that warning alongside Sam Altman’s support for slower development and David Sacks calling Anthropic and OpenAI a cartel. Reid identifies biological threats, cyberattacks, and job disruption as the real risks, makes the…
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16 Sep 2026 · 44 min
Seven creators, $1,000 a week in AI tokens, one summer
Reid Hoffman and Parth Patil argue that if your AI experiments always work, you’re not pushing hard enough. Wrapping up the Tokens to the Future series, they revisit seven grantees’ experiments with $1,000 a week each in tokens. Their conversations span Dungeons & Dragons worldbuilding, an iOS game built in a weekend, and personal agents whose usefulness compounds over years. They explore how AI can shift more people from execution-focused “cog jobs” to creative “spark jobs,” and why expertise can sometimes make new possibilities harder to see. Throughout, they ask what to delegate and where…
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