Adam Davidson Explains A.I. in Three-Part Freakonomics Radio Series

Freakonomics Radio today launches “How to Think About A.I.”, a three-part series providing some entertaining clarity that cuts through the noise surrounding Artificial Intelligence. The series is guest-hosted by award-winning reporter Adam Davidson, who views the series as an unofficial successor to his Peabody- and Polk-winning 2008 This American Life episode, “The Giant Pool of Money,” which explained the housing crisis in a way normal people could understand.

‘I’ve spent months now talking to as many smart people as I can find about A.I., and I learned a lot,” Davidson says in the first episode. “The main thing, the big headline: Nobody knows where A.I. is heading. That’s why there’s such a crazy range of predictions. As one expert told me, there are no experts yet. We’re still figuring this out.”

With help from leaders in the fields of A.I. (including Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei explaining why no one gets to ignore A.I. for much longer), economics (including Wharton School professor Ethan Mollick exploring how A.I. could help would-be entrepreneurs), and creativity (including TV showrunner Michael Schur wondering how the technology will change writers’ rooms), Davidson begins by asking a few basic questions — like, what actually is A.I.? — but the main questions  are these: What happens when A.I. can do things that we think of as distinctly human? Can it be truly creative? And will A.I. take my job? 

The series gets into the nuts and bolts of the technology as it exists today: what can it do and how should you use it? It also zooms out to talk about A.I.’s impact on jobs, and the long history of how technological advances have shifted employment. Additionally, the series asks who gets to shape the path that A.I. takes. How can we best understand if and when A.I. will really transform our lives? 

The first episode is available today at freakonomics.com and on all podcast platforms. The next two episodes will come out on Wednesdays August 30 and September 6 at 11:00 PM ET.

The A.I. miniseries follows other recent special programming across the Freakonomics Radio Network, including multi-part series on whaling, art repatriation, air travel, and Adam Smith (all on Freakonomics Radio) and the seven deadly sins (on No Stupid Questions). Earlier this summer, the network launched its newest show, The Economics of Everyday Things.

About Freakonomics Radio

Discover the hidden side of everything with host Stephen J. Dubner, co-author of the best-selling Freakonomics books. Each week, Freakonomics Radio tells you things you always thought you knew (but didn’t) and things you never thought you wanted to know (but do) — from the economics of sleep to how to become great at just about anything. Dubner talks with Nobel laureates and provocateurs, social scientists and entrepreneurs. Freakonomics Radio was one of Apple Podcasts’ top 20 most-downloaded shows of 2022 and is the flagship program of the Freakonomics Radio Network.

About Freakonomics Radio Network

Founded in 2010, Freakonomics Radio remains one of the world’s most popular podcasts. The show also airs weekly on nearly 300 public radio stations. As the flagship show of the Freakonomics Radio Network, it has been joined in recent years by No Stupid Questions, which explores the weird and wonderful ways in which humans behave, with research psychologist Angela Duckworth and tech and sports executive Mike Maughan; People I (Mostly) Admire, where Freakonomics co-author Steven Levitt interviews other unorthodox high achievers; and The Economics of Everyday Things, where journalist Zachary Crockett uncovers the hidden side of the things that surround us in daily life. In 2022, the network’s podcasts had nearly 150 million downloads.